Straw Hats Creed - Grand Line
by Readmeplz
Summary: Now that Connors secret has been relieved the Straw Hats continue their adventures, but will he stay with them? With the East Blue behind them and the Grand Line in front of them the journey to find One Piece continues. -The Sequel to Straw Hats Creed-
1. Whisky Peak Pt 1

_**A.n I own nothing, One piece and all it's characters are created and the property of** **Eiichiro Oda. The Assassins Creed franchise is the propriety of Ubisoft.**_

 ** _Important_** _ **Note: this is a sequel to my first story**_ **Straw Hats Creed _It is recommended that you read my first story before reading this one. if you have already read Straw Hats Creed then please disregard this note._**

 ** _Thank you for all those who read the last story, i could not have continued it with out your support. This section takes place in the Grand Line and the Assassins will be featured a lot more. If you have any suggestions on how to make the story better or Assassins you want to see do not hesitate to let me know._**

 _ **As always please review.**_

* * *

The Grand Line was certainly living up to its reputation, the Merry had set sail earlier in the morning and within the first hour it had started snowing. Soon the whole deck was covered in it, Luffy and Usopp built snow sculptures which led to a snow ball fight.

Connor sat inside by the window with Nami watching the two act like children.

"Hey aren't you cold?" Nami asked, putting on some winter clothes.

Connor shook his head and continued to stare out the window.

Nami sighed, Connor hadn't said much lately and no one blamed him. Luffy had told everyone that he had offered the boy a place on his crew; they had expected Connor to take some time to think about it. But Luffy had made the offer over five days ago and Connor had yet to accept or decline, in fact he had stopped talking all together.

Nami remembered that night.

 _Flashback_

 _Luffy approached the crew after talking to Connor._

 _"I offered him a place here. If he chooses to stay it will be as my Nakama," Luffy claimed._

 _"Great did he accept?" Usopp asked._

 _"No, I told him to think about it,"_

 _Zoro nodded and headed towards the kitchen._

 _"Where are you going? Sanji asked._

 _"To reassure him that it's his decision," Zoro replied._

 _The rest of the crew followed._

 _Connor was having a mental augment about Luffys offer, his mind was telling him it was a trick and he had no right to any type of life other than servitude. However he could not ignore his instincts and they were practically screaming that the offer was genuine._

 _The crew came in and he looked up at them._

 _"Hey kid, Luffy tells me he offered you a place on our ship," Zoro said._

 _Connor nodded._

 _"Well whatever you decide, I just want you to know that I will always watch your back. Oh and I'll continue your training if you want,"_

 _Connor didn't know how to respond to this, he continued to stare at them._

 _"Zoro's right. Just because you've got some creepy mark on your arm, it won't change our opinion of you or our friendship," Usopp reassured._

 _"I'm planning on teaching you the basics of reading, writing and navigation. It's never too late to learn. We may also cover some math as well," Nami declared "as I get the books we'll start,"_

 _"Listen Connor I'm sorry for making you do all those chores. From now on I'll make these idiots do them," Sanji apologised "I understand if you hate me and I don't expect you to forgive me either. But I'd like to be friends,"_

 _"Well there you go; no one is going to abuse that Brands power over you. So you got nothing to worry about," Luffy declared happily._

 _Connor could not believe what he was hearing; did they really want him as a friend? That hadn't happened before, he switched to his second sight and the entire crew glowed bright blue. The really meant what they said, he could not argue that the freedom they were offering was incredibly tempting and he really had no desire to leave._

 _Connor could not deal with this and he burst into tears. It was clear to the crew that he was having an emotional breakdown. Nami hugged him and the rest of the crew comforted him, for once Connor did not flinch at their touch._

 _The straw hats set sail the next morning._

 _End flashback_

Nami left the boy alone and went on deck, she checked their current course.

"GGGGAAAAHHHHHHH! OHHHH NNNOOOO," Nami screamed.

Luffy and Usopp stopped playing and looked at her.

"What's wrong Nami?" Luffy asked.

"We're going the wrong way. We need to do a complete 180 degrees turn now,"

No one noticed Connor poking his head out of the door.

Suddenly the snow stopped falling, and the sun came out.

"Hey the sun's back," Sanji pointed out.

But it disappeared again as quickly as it came only to be replaced by violent storm clouds, Lightning cracked across the sky and heavy winds attacked the Merry's sail.

"What the hell? Everyone quick we need to get out of here. Sanji man the helm, Luffy and Usopp bring in the sails," Nami ordered.

The Crew was quick to obey and the Merry changed direction, but the storm got worse. The Merry turned straight into a collision course with an Iceberg.

"Iceberg dead ahead," Usopp yelled out.

Sanji herd him and used all of his strength to change the Merry course again, they just missed it.

"We're taking on water," Connor warned.

Nami looked at the boy in surprise, she'd forgotten about him in all the chaos.

"Usopp patch us up," Nami ordered and Usopp ran below deck. Nami looked at Connor "Connor…Help Luffy with the mast,"

Connor ran over to Luffy who was struggling to get the sails in, just when they thought they had it a cyclone showed up.

"What the hell is wrong with this sea?" Nami cried.

It took a while but the Merry finally was out of the crazy weather and back on course, the straw hats were exhausted. Zoro yawned as he woke up from his nap; he took a look at the clear blue sky and noted how nice it was.

Zoro got up and was thinking about doing some training when he noticed the rest of the crew was lying sprawled out on the deck.

"Why are you all being lazy on such a nice day?"

"You," Nami said dangerously.

Zoro tuned and found himself face to face with a very pissed off Nami, he could practically see the anger radiating off her and it frightened him.

"Do you have any idea how much we tried to wake you?"

"What are you taking about? Everything is fine,"

Nami snapped and punched, Zoro crashed on the deck and Nami stomped on his head several times. When she was done Zoro had several large bumps on his head and Nami stormed off in a huff.

* * *

The Merry arrived at Whisky Peak some early afternoon, there was quite a bit of fog around the island. As the ship approached shadowy figures could be seen on the shore line.

"Our first stop in the Grand Line. I hope there're lots of adventures waiting for us," Luffy exclaimed excitedly.

"Hey do you think that there are any monsters on this Island?" Usopp asked.

"Who knows what we'll find, this is the Grand Line after all," Zoro answered.

"Seriously this could be a monster Island?" Usopp panicked.

What are you worried about we can leave any time," Sanji reminded him.

"Actually we can't," Nami said. "The Log Pose needs to record and reset at every Island. It takes time for Log to do this and each island takes a different amount of time. Some could take a few hours while others could take a few days," Nami explained.

"So if this is a monster Island we can't leave?" Usopp panicked "I just remembered I have can't-go-onto- a-strange-Island- diseases," he lied.

Everyone ignored him and the shadows on the shore multiplied. Connor switched to his second sight and was relieved that all the shadows were people but every one of them was glowing red.

As the Merry approached the Island the fog cleared and the shadowy fingers tuned out to be the town's people, they were cheering at the straw hats. The people cheered and praised the pirates, Usopp's fears disappeared and the straw hats got caught up in the praise.

The ship docked and the crew disembarked, they were greeted by the Mayor.

He was a tall man with a small red nose and had blonde curled hair in a style that resembles the wigs worn during the 16th and 17th centuries. He was dressed in an official suit, like a gentleman and had the number 8 at the tips of his collar.

"Welcome brave pirates to our town of Whisky Peak. The Town of celebration, I am Iggy the mayor of this town"

"Celebration?"

"Oh yes we love visitors to our town, it gives us a chance to celebrate. Pirates, marines' tourists all are welcome here. Now let's go to the banquet hall for the traditional welcome feast,"

"All right," Luffy Sanji and Usopp cheered.

Zoro noticed Connor was hiding behind him, the boys eyes darted all around like he was trying to keep everyone in sight.

"You okay kid?" Zoro asked concerned.

Connor looked up at Zoro and the swordsmen noticed the gold fade from his eyes.

"Everyone here is red," Connor warned.

Zoro's eyes widened and looked at the town's people again, he didn't entirely believe Connors claim but on the off chance that the boy was right they could be in trouble.

Nami asked about the time needed for the Log to set but the mayor brushed her off. The mayor and the towns' people led the pirates to the banquet hall. Connor stuck to Zoro like glue and shied away from all of the towns' folk.

"Is he all right" Iggy asked, noticing Connors strange behaviour.

"He's just shy," Zoro shrugged.

They arrived at the banquet hall, it was huge over a hundred tables and chairs were set up and the man behind the bar was starting to poor drinks.

"This is our banquet hall, please help yourself to drinks while the chefs prepare the food," Iggy offered.

All of the straw hats were given some wine, except Connor he was too young to drink so he was given juice. Nami refused because she didn't want any alcohol but the mayor assured her that there was very little alcohol in the wine. The chefs brought out the food and the banquet tuned into quite the party.

All of the straw hats were enjoying themselves, Luffy was shoving food into his mouth faster than the cooks could bring it out, Sanji was surrounded by cute girls and Usopp was telling lies to the village kids, who were enthralled by his stories. Despite Connors earlier warning Zoro and Nami had got into a drinking contest and Zoro could not see these people being anything other than festive.

Connor on the other hand refused to engage in the party in anyway, he didn't touch his food or drink and refused to talk to anyone. After a few hours Connor asked the mayor where he could sleep. The mayor was surprised that the boy wanted to go to bed early and Connor claimed it was past his bedtime.

The Mayor led him to the second floor of the hall where the guest rooms were located, he opened one and Connor went inside. The mayor wished him goodnight before closing the door and going back to the party. The sound of the lock clicking did not go unnoticed.

Back at the party Iggy informed the rest of the crew about Connors early night.

"Why do you have rooms in the banquet hall?" Zoro asked suspiciously.

"We are a town who loves to celebrate; sometimes people get a little too into it so they sleep here instead of stumbling home after a night out." Iggy answered.

Zoro had to admit that it was a practical idea.

* * *

The party went on well into the night and eventually all the straw hats fell asleep on the banquet halls floor. Immensely satisfied from all the food and drink, about half of the town joined them. The Mayor was outside staring at the moon when he was joined by a Nun, a blue hired girl and a guy wearing a crown.

"Finally they fell asleep," the nun said.

"They were quite rowdy weren't they?" Iggy said.

The blue haired girl and the man with the crown approached Iggy.

"Mr 8 we've found a wanted poster for this crew," they said together.

"Very good Mr 9, Miss Wednesday. Let's see it," Mr 8 said and took the poster.

His jaw dropped when he saw the bounty.

"30,000,000? They're worth that much?"

"Huh guess you can't judge a book by its cover," the Nun said.

"Were there any other posters?"

"No just the one," Miss Wednesday confirmed.

"With this much money we should be able to resupply everything for the next year or so,"

"What about the others, they don't have bounties," Mr 9 pointed out.

"Sell them off like normal. No one's will notice they've gone," Mr 8 ordered.

"Oh I think I might notice," a voice interrupted.

The four of them turned to find the source of the voice, there sitting on the roof above them was Zoro.

"You why aren't you asleep?" the nun asked.

"Simple really, I can hold my liquor. So you lot aren't typical bounty hunters, you wouldn't happen to be part of a secret illegal group called Baroque Works would you."

"How do you know that name?" Miss Wednesday asked.

"Back when I was a bounty hunter myself one of your agents scouted me for membership. I turned them down of course, not knowing who my boss is or where the money comes from. Too shady for my tastes," Zoro explained.

"We were going to sell you off but since you know our secret, you'll die here," Mr 8 claimed, he snapped his fingers and the entire town came running, they all had various different weapons pointed at Zoro.

"You can try," Zoro said and disappeared.

Zoro then started a game of cat and mouse with the islands inhabitants and he was the cat. He took the fight seriously for all of ten seconds, after he'd tricked them into shooting each other he realised that there was no challenge in the fight and started playing with the townsfolk. Zoro tricked them into falling through roofs, attacking each other; even the kids had weapons.

It was not until he was grabbed by Miss Monday that he even thought about fighting seriously. The Nun was strong and she claimed to be stronger than any man; she managed to get a hit on Zoro but he just shrugged it off.

"You call that a punch? That was just a tap," Zoro claimed. "This is how you punch,"

Zoro punched Miss Monday in her gut with such force that she fell off the roof and landed on top of Mr 8. Miss Wednesday then tried to defeat him using perfume and a sultry dance.

Which had very little effect on Zoro, when it failed she charged at him riding a large yellow duck; ran right past him and off the roof.

"Umm…okay that happened," Zoro said. "I thought this was going to be hard. Fighting these guys is just sad,"

"Die!" Mr 9 yelled as he suddenly attacked Zoro from behind.

Zoro simply ducked and the last agent fell of the roof onto the others in the street below.

Zoro jumped down from the building and stood in front of the fallen Baroque Works agents.

"Now then what was it you were planning to do with my crew," Zoro asked dangerously.

"The Marines must have made a mistake, this must be the Captain and the one worth 30,000,000," Mr 8 hissed.

Zoro took a step forward and suddenly collapsed to his knees.

"What?" he asked in surprise, his body felt heavy and it would not obey him.

The fallen agents smiled evilly and slowly rose to their feet.

"It's finally taking affect," Mr 9 laughed.

"Not a moment too soon," Miss Wednesday agreed.

"What's taking affect?" Zoro asked weakly, his eyes were growing heavy and it was getting harder to see.

"Why the drug you've been drinking all night of course," Mr 8 said smugly.

"We've been drugging your crew with a light slow acting sedative all night. Don't worry it's not harmful, it just knocks you out for a while," Miss Monday explained.

"The more your crew ate and drank, the longer the effect will be. And with the amount you and your friends have had you'll be out for a long time, I'm surprised it took this long to affect you," Mr 8 finished.

Zoro couldn't move and he collapsed, 'damn it, the kid was right, why didn't I listen to him,' Zoro thought and then he realised that Connor hadn't eaten anything all night.

"You know that boy that was with them didn't touch his food or drink right?" Miss Monday pointed out.

"A small child that's already been looked up, he's not going anywhere," Mr 8 stated.

'Crap,' was the last thing Zoro thought before he blacked out.


	2. Whisky Peak Pt 2

_**A.n I own Nothing**_

* * *

Connor wandered through the streets of Whisky Peak, it hadn't been hard to get out of the room that he was given. At first he didn't know what to do so he went for a walk, and found himself on a trail leading up to the strange cactus looking mountains, however when he got there the hill tops were littered with grave stones. He didn't recognise any of the names and thinking it was the towns' grave yard he turned to head back when he heard two men talking.

"So think we'll need any fresh graves tonight?" the first man asked.

"Doubt it; I reckon the mayor is going to sell them," the second one answered.

Connor froze; his eyes widened 'What? Sell who?"

"I got word from Miss Wednesday apparently the straw hat one is worth 30,000,000 beris," the first one continued.

"Are you serious?" the second one asked in disbelief.

"Yup and with the food shortage that money could go a long way,"

"But what about the others?"

"Like I said probably going to sell them might get a decent price for them too,"

Connor had heard enough, no wonder the entire town was filled with red people; he ran down the trail as fast as he could.

"I have to warn them, I can't let them go through what I went through," Connor said.

When Connor got back into town there were injured bodies everywhere, he switched to his second sight and found that some were only unconscious while others had no aura at all. He gripped his sword and silently made his way back to the banquet hall, when he entered all of the staff were gone and so were the Straw Hat pirates.

"No, I'm too late," he whispered.

Switching his second sight back on he tried to locate the yellow trail, but it did not appear. He switched his sight back and forth desperate to get the trail to appear but it never did. Not wanting to waste any more time Connor ran out of the hall and through the town looking for any signs of hidden areas or his friends.

He heard voices talking and hid in an ally way nearby, peaking around the corner he saw the Mayor and the nun from earlier but he didn't recognise the other two. They were standing over Zoro's unmoving body. He doubted that Zoro was dead; after all he knew from experience that there was no value in selling a corpse.

"That was too close; get him into the cages with the others,"

'Cages?' Connor wondered 'Maybe if I follow them they'll lead me to the others,'

The four agents didn't get a chance to go anywhere because to people approached them from behind.

"Well this town has seen better days," a male voice said.

The agents turned around prepared for another fight but relaxed when they saw who it was. Standing behind them was a man and a woman.

The man was tall; he was dark-skinned with black hair in short spiky dreadlocks. He wore a brown trench coat with a pink cravat and a pair of sunglasses. He had a "5" on his coat.

The woman was short blond hair and bright green eyes; she wore a yellow and orange hat, a yellow dress with a lemon-like pattern, lemon earrings, and white high-heeled shoes. She was carrying a bright green parasol with blue stripes.

"Mr 5, Miss Valentine, what are you doing here," Mr 9 asked.

"We're on a mission of course, what's with all the bodies redecorating?" Miss Valentine asked.

"Hardly," Mr 8 scoffed "we have a visiting pirate crew and it took a little longer for the drugs to affect this swordsman,"

"So he decided to kill time by fighting the town?" Mr 5 asked "I think we should hire him,"

"But before we start a recruitment drive we have to finish our mission," Miss Valentine reminded her partner.

"What is your mission? Maybe we can help," Miss Monday suggested.

"There's a traitor in our midst, someone found out our boss's secret,"

"His exact words were 'Someone knows my secret find out who and eliminate them'" Miss Valentine giggled "so we researched who it could have been and weren't we surprised to find out that we had been infiltrated by royalty,"

"And that they're stationed in this town," Mr 5 finished.

"Now hold on a second" Mr 9 panicked "I may wear this crown but I'm no king. It's not even real gold,"

"It's not you Mr 9, but you and Miss Monday should expect to receive new partners. Isn't that right Miss Wednesday and Mr 8," Miss Valentine stated.

Mr 8 and Miss Wednesday froze in terror.

"Or should we call you Igaram captain of the royal Alabasta guards and Nefertari Vivi princess of Alabasta," Mr 5 confirmed.

Miss Monday and Mr 9 looked at their partners in shock, then Igaram pulled on his bow tie and several machine guns came out of the curls in his hair.

"Run Miss Vivi I'll hold them off," He ordered and opened fire on Mr 5 and Miss Valentine.

Connor watched from his hiding place as a cloud of dust appeared blinding the new agents, when the dust cleared Miss Wednesday and Mr 8 were gone.

* * *

The now exposed princess fled on her duck through the town.

"I have to get out of here, my kingdom is depending on me," She said.

"Going somewhere princess?" a voice called form above.

Vivi looked up to see Miss Valentine floating in the sky; she suddenly landed in front of Vivi with a crash so strong it broke the ground. The fleeing princess was knocked off her duck and Mr 5 came up behind her.

"You can't get away," he said.

The duck suddenly grabbed Vivi and took off running down an ally suddenly a strong arms reached out and grabbed the reigns pulling the duck and the princess inside a building. Vivi got ready to defend herself as she recognised her former partner with Miss Monday.

"Wait we want to help you," Mr 9 said quickly.

"Why should I believe you," Vivi hissed back.

"Because they helped me," Igaram said, from behind them. His clots were dirty and torn; a few injuries could be seen.

"Look I don't actually care that you're a traitor or some princess of a foreign country. You were the only one who was nice to me and my first friend," Miss Monday explained.

"And we're partners after all, remember what we promised each other when we were assigned together. We promised that we'd always have each other's back no matter what," Mr 9 said.

"Thank you all of you and I'm sorry to have lied to you," Vivi said gratefully "But you can't risk your lives for mine,"

"So you really are a princess then?" a voice asked.

The agents whirled around expecting an enemy but saw Connor standing there in the door way.

"You how did you escape?" Igaram asked "why weren't you taken with the others,"

Connor thought back to earlier that night.

 _Flashback_

 _Once the mayor had locked the door Connor went over to the window and found it sealed, he then went back to the door and found the inside handle had been removed._

 _"So it can only be opened from the outside," he muttered._

 _Connor could still here the party going on down stairs; he went over to the bed furthest from the door and stuffed the pillow under the blankets. Connor made his way back to the door and sat against the wall next to it waiting and listening to the sounds of the party._

 _Sometime later after the party had died down he heard the lock click open and three men walked in. They made their way into the room checking the beds. Connor slipped out of the room and closed the door; the keys were still in the lock so he locked it and snapped them off, preventing any one from entering or exiting the room._

 _End flashback_

"Let's just say your minions aren't the brightest," Connor answered.

"We don't have time to deal with him right now. Mr 5 and Miss Valentine will find us," Mr 9 warned.

"If I take care of them, will you let us leave?"

The agents stared at Connor in disbelief.

"Us? Do you mean the rest of your crew?" Miss Monday asked.

Connor nodded.

"If you can defeat them then we'll talk about your crew," Mr 9 said.

"No, I want to leave this island as soon as possible and I can't leave without them. So you agree to my terms or I turn you all over to those clowns out there," Connor threatened.

"But if you do that than a whole country will perish," Vivi reasoned.

"Not my country, not my problem," Connor said coldly.

"You'd actually let a whole country die to save some pirate scum?" Igaram asked seriously.

"Normally no I wouldn't I'd leave them to their fate and I certainly wouldn't lose any sleep over it. However for this crew I'd let the whole world burn before I see them become slaves," Connor claimed.

Igaram could see that Connor meant every word, if this boy felt so strongly about his crew mates then maybe he might agree to help Vivi.

"Alright you and you're crew can leave in peace; we'll release your crew. Only after you take care of our pursuers," Igaram agreed.

"How will I know you'll keep your word?" Connor asked.

"How do we know you can beat them?" Igaram responded.

"Touché," Connor said and he left.

"Igaram, why would you agree to that? Both Mr 5 and Miss Valentine have eaten Devil Fruits," Vivi reminded him.

"Because while he's fighting them we can get away," Miss Monday realised.

"Yes, that's correct. I regret sending the boy to his death but your life is more important," Igaram said sadly.

"Get ready, we'll make a run for it as soon as the fighting starts," Mr 9 said.

* * *

Connor wandered through the street looking for Mr 5 and Miss Valentine. He suspected that the mayor had only agreed with him so they could run while he fought off the other two agents, when he spotted a rope bridge over a river, it was the river that connected to the sea. The Merry had sailed down it to get into town.

He saw Miss Valentine floating in the air not two far from him, he ran over to get her attention.

"HEY LADY!" Connor yelled at her.

Miss Valentine looked down to the ground and Saw Connor trying to get her attrition, she landed.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I live here. I saw that blue haired lady and the mayor head off in that direction," Connor lied and pointed to the bridge.

"Really?"

"Yup you and your friend should be able to catch her if you hurry. The duck thing looked injured,"

"Thanks kid," Miss Valentine said "Hey could you watch the bridge while I get my partner?"

"You bet," Connor said and ran back towards the bridge. Miss Valentine went to get Mr 5 and tell him the good news.

Mr 5 and Miss Valentine returned quickly and Connor repeated to Mr 5 what he'd told Miss Valentine. Mr 5 thanked him for the information; he and his partner went across the bridge. Once they were in the middle Connor cut the support ropes and the two fell into the river; they did not resurface.

Connor noted how easy it had been and went back to where Vivi was hiding with the others, when he got there they were surprised to see him.

"So I defeated them, where are my friends?"

"What already, how?" Vivi asked in disbelief.

"Let's just say that they weren't that bright," Connor smirked.

"Very well follow me, I'll take you to your friends," Igaram said and headed down the street.

Connor followed the former agents through town; he thought the whole situation was just too strange. Why was a princess involved in a criminal organisation?

"So what's a princess doing in an illegal bounty hunter organisation anyway?" Connor asked Vivi.

"Have you heard of the country called Alabasta?" Vivi asked back.

Connor shook his head.

"It's a desert country, on the verge of civil war," Vivi said.

"Civil war?"

"Yes, a small group of people were upset at my father and started a revolution. At first he thought that it was just the people's way of expressing their anger but it escalated. I began investigating and found a group called Baroque works was behind it," Vivi explained.

"So you and curly here infiltrated it, why?"

"So we could find out who was the leader of the organisation. If we knew who it was then we could stop them and bring them to justice," Igaram finished.

"So who is it? I mean you clearly know who the boss is,"

They all stopped walking and Vivi stared at the boy.

"I can't tell you, if you know you'll be hunted down and killed,"

They started walking again in silence until Connor broke it again "So what's a civil war?" he asked.

Viv explained the concept of civil war and revolutions; they were usually used to remove people from the throne. They eventually came to a warehouse and Igaram instructed Connor to wait outside while he, Mr 9 and Miss Monday get the straw hats. Connor agreed only if Vivi waited with him, when the two were alone Connor pressed Vivi for information again.

"So in all seriousness who is the big boss?" he asked.

"I told you I can't tell you, the less people know the safer they will be,"

"Oh come on your partners are inside and there is no one around, whose going to know?"

"Crocodile would, he'd find out for sure,"

"Crocodile huh, wired name,"

Vivi suddenly realised what she had done and panicked. Now this boy would be marked for death and it was all her fault. A scraping sound was heard from above and Connor and Vivi both looked up to see a vulture and an otter wearing pokodotted pajamers sitting on the roof of the warehouse. The otter was drawing on a sketch pad, when he was done he revealed two pictures.

One had Connors face on it and the other had Vivis. Vivi panicked again as the vulture flew off with the otter on his back. Igaram came out a few moments later carrying Luffy and Zoro; he was followed by the two other agents carrying the rest of the crew.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"Vivi just told me who the boss of Baroque Works was and some weird otter drew our picture," Connor answered.

"The unluckys? We have to hurry. Quick back to your ship," Igaram urged then took off running in the direction of the Merry.

Vivi, Connor, Miss Wednesday and Mr 9 followed him.

"Why are we running from an otter?" Connor asked as they ran.

"Because once they report back to the boss, you'll have every single member of Baroque Works hunting you down," Igaram explained.

"How many members are there?"

"Over 2000," Mr 9 answered.

"Listen I have no reason to trust you or right to ask you this but will you take the princess with you?" Igaram asked.

"What?" Connor responded.

"I'll get on a different ship and act as a decoy while you escape with Miss Vivi here, if all goes well you can leave safely and get a head start before they receive those pictures,"

"But Igaram, that would put you in incredible danger," Vivi protested.

"Even if I agree to that where am I supposed to take her?" Connor asked.

"Back home to Alabasta," Igaram said "our country's survival depends on it,"

When they arrived at the ship Mr 9 and Miss Monday placed all of the sleeping Straw Hats members on the deck and Igaram disappeared but came back ten minutes later dressed in Vivis clothes.

"Why are you dressed like that?" Vivi asked worriedly.

"I told you I'm going to be your decoy, I'll take one of the prison ships and head for Alabasta while you go with them," Igaram answered.

"Now hold on just a second," Connor said "I can't take her home; I have no right or say in who gets on this ship or where it goes. Only the captain decides that kind of thing,"

"But you have to allow her on board, if you don't…" Igaram begged.

"I can't go against my orders, no matter what's at risk. However if she wants to hang around and talk to him when he wakes up, then that's fine by me. Also if we happen to leave while she's waiting and she's on board then that's her problem not mine," Connor said mischiefly.

Igaram and Vivi stared at the boy realising what he was implying.

"Very well then I'll wait on board until I can speak with the captain," Vivi agreed.

"Wise choice as soon as curly gets off the ship I'm casting off,"

"Without the Captain's permission?" Igaram asked in mock surprise.

"I'm sure he'll understand,"

"Then I won't hold you up. Princess I need the Eternal Pose please,"

Vivi nodded and reluctantly handed over a different looking Log Pose. The compass was the same but it was stored in a wooden frame.

"What's an Eternal Pose?" Connor asked curiosity.

"Well a Log Pose records the magnetic field of each Island before it points the way to the next. However an Eternal Pose will only ever point the way to one islands magnetic field. It will never change, no matter where you are in the world," Igaram explained.

"This Eternal Pose is set for Alabasta," Vivi claimed "Igaram take care of yourself,"

"Don't worry about me, I'll see you back home," Igaram said and gave Vivi a hug before he left the ship.

As soon as he was gone Connor raised the anchor and unfurled the sails. The Merry sailed up the river and into the fog, Vivi watched the town and Igaram disappear from sight. Once she couldn't see him anymore she turned away sadly, a large explosion went off behind her.

BOOOMMM!

Vivi froze and turned around again, she could see the flames burning the town. Connor ran up beside her.

"What was that?" he looked back over the burning town "oh s***,"

Vivi stared in shock, she thought they had more time, she thought that Igaram would have made it home but he had died because she had gotten him involved. Her friend was dead because of her.

"Hey are you all right?" Connor asked but Vivi didn't respond.

Connor left her there and moved the rest of the straw hats into their beds; he placed Zoro's swords next to his hammock. When Connor was done he also took the Log Pose from Nami's wrist, he had no idea how to navigate but perhaps Vivi could teach him how the compass worked.

When he got back on deck Vivi was being comforted by the giant duck thing.

"What is that thing anyway?" Connor asked Vivi as he approached.

"This is Carue, he's a duck and my most trusted friend," Vivi answered.

"Right. Look I know you're in shock and grieving for your curly haired friend but…I don't suppose you could teach me how this compass works could you?" Connor asked, holding up the Log Pose.

"Where's the navigator?"

"Sleeping off whatever you gave her,"

"But you're a pirate. Surly you know the basics of navigation,"

"I don't even know how a regular compass works, how am I supposed to figure out this one," Connor claimed.


	3. Whisky Peak Pt 3

_**A.n I own Nothing**_

 ** _Also check out new Bleach fic: Zangetsu's _**_**Holiday. Please Review**_

* * *

The Merry sailed on all through the night. Vivi had been quite surprised to learn that Connor knew nothing of navigation; after all it was an essential skill. She gave him a quick instruction on how the Log Pose worked.

"The red coloured part of the needle always points to the next Island," Vivi said.

"So point the ship in the direction the needle is pointing. That's it?" Connor asked back.

"That's the simplest way to put, yes. Oh and you can't trust the sea currents or the wind in the Grand Line so be sure to keep a close eye on the compass," Vivi finished.

Connor nodded, he kept the compass with him all night and checked it every few minutes. A short time later Connor noticed Vivi was struggling to stay awake; her duck friend had already fallen asleep on the deck.

"You should get some sleep. It won't be light for another few hours," Connor suggested.

"Good idea, where should I sleep?" Vivi asked.

"Anywhere on the deck,"

"What? But don't you have a guest room or crew quarters,"

Connor narrowed his eyes "No guest quarters and the crew quarters is for the crew only,"

"But…,"

"After what you tried to do. Do you honestly think I'd let you anywhere near the crew while there unconscious,"

Vivi looked down guiltily, he was right not to trust her but it still hurt.

"You can use your friend as a pillow," Connor said.

Vivi sighed and lay down on the deck, she leaned her head on Carue. It wasn't comfterble but she eventually fell asleep.

Connor watched her while she slept, he switched to his second sight and both Vivi and Carue had a white aura around them.

Connor stayed up by himself for the rest of the night and keeping a close eye on the Log Pose and the sleeping princess. A chilly wind began to blow, Connor noticed Vivi start to shiver. He quickly went inside and came out with a few blankets and gently placed them over Vivi and Carue. The cold did bother him but he knew that it would not stop him from staying up all night, his brand would ensue it.

* * *

The next morning when Vivi woke up she was surprised to find blankets on her. She smiled when she realised that the boy must've covered her last night. 'Maybe he's not all bad,' she thought. Vivi wondered where he was. Connor came out of the kitchen a minute later munching on an apple, he noticed Vivi and threw her one.

"What's this for?" Vivi asked catching the apple.

"Breakfast," Connor answered.

"Oh thank you," Vivi said with a forced smile. To be honest she was expecting something more for breakfast but she ate it anyway.

Around an hour later her tummy rumbled and Connor looked at her.

"Sorry I guess I'm a bit hungry, I don't suppose I could have something more to eat,"

"You ate that apple right?" Connor asked.

"Yes, but it wasn't enough,"

"I'm not supposed to take food. I'll get into trouble, one or two apples will go unnoticed but anything else will be noticed,"

"Really, is your cook that strict,"

"Yup, he beats up anyone caught stealing food from the kitchen or if any goes missing," Connor claimed. Though he left out the part that it was mainly Luffy he beat up, as he was always the culprit.

Vivi didn't want to get the boy in trouble; he was probably going to be in trouble for just letting her on board. She'd have to wait until the captain woke up and ask him.

Soon the Merry sailed into a thick fog and Connor pulled in the main sail, slowing the ship down.

"This fog is going to make it hard to navigate," Vivi commented.

"But we can use it for cover," Connor said.

"Good idea, your enemies won't be able to see you in all of this," a new voice said from behind.

Connor and Vivi immediately tuned around to the source of the unknown voice, on the railing above them sat a woman looking down on them.

She wore a skimpy cowgirl outfit. It consisted of a purple cleavage-exposing corset and matching miniskirt, both with white ornaments hanging from them, and a white fur-lined coat with a white cowboy hat and white high-heeled boots.

"Hello little princess,"

Vivi froze and stared at the woman in fear.

"Y…Y…You what are you doing here Miss All-Sunday?" Vivi asked fearfully.

"All-Sunday? Is she part of Baroqe Works too?" Connor asked.

"Yes she's the bosses' partner,"

"You mean Crocodile right?"

"Oh how unfortunate you know his name, but I didn't come here to fight,"

"Then why are you here?" Vivi demanded.

"Truthfully I wanted to meet the captain,"

"Are you after his bounty?" Connor asked.

"No, I have plenty of money already. But it's rare for a pirate to have such a high bounty before entering the Grand Line,"

"Well he's still asleep so you'll have to come back later,"

"Oh well maybe next time then, here," Miss All-Sunday threw something at Vivi and she caught it, it was an Eternal Pose.

"You're on your way to Alabasta right? But with the entire Baroque Works after you, it will be difficult. If you go to that island and wait for the Log pose to readjust you can avoid all Baroque works activity,"

"Can't we get there by following the Log Pose?" Connor asked concerned.

"You can but it is impossible to reach. The next Island is Little Garden if you go there you will never be able to leave," Miss All-Sunday warned.

Vivi looked at the eternal Pose in her hand; it was for an Island called Drum.

"How do we know that this route is safe?" she asked.

"None of our agents know that Drum Island is one of the closest Islands too Alabasta," Miss All-Sunday answered.

"But you do," Connor said dangerously.

"Yes but right now I have no orders to stop you, so if you chose to take the route that our organisation doesn't know about. Then if the boss finds out, it won't be from me,"

"Why are you helping us?" Vivi asked.

"Well you seem so desperate to save a dying country, but even if you tell the whole country the truth the result will be the same," Miss All-Sunday finished, she got up and jumped over the side of the Merry on to a giant sea turtle.

"Good luck," she said before swimming off.

Connor ran over to the railing, and caught a glimpse of her with his second sight, she was glowing a mixture of white and red.

"Odd," Connor said; it was the same mixture that Zoro had been when they'd first met and he still had no idea what it meant.

"Why would she help us? What is she really planning?" Vivi wondered.

"I don't think we should trust her," Connor said. "But let's keep that Pose just in case,"

Vivi nodded and pocketed the Eternal Pose. "So, now what do we do?"

"I guess we head to Little Garden, any Idea why it's called that?"

"None,"

"Oh well we'll find out when we get there,"

* * *

In the late afternoon Nami was the first to wake up; at first she was confused about waking up in her room. She was sure that she fell asleep in the banquet hall. 'One of the boys probably carried me back,' she thought and hoped it wasn't Sanji.

"That is the last time I drink that much," Nami muttered to herself.

She got out of bed and changed her clothes; once she was done Nami lifted her wrist to see if the Log had set. Her eyes widened the Log Pose was gone; she checked the tables and draws in her room but could not find the Log Pose anywhere.

"This is bad we need that compass," she claimed "hold on, is the ship moving?"

Nami went to her window and peered out, the ship was indeed moving and to make matters worse the island of Whisky Peak was nowhere in sight.

"GGGGGYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!," Nami screamed.

Outside Connor and Vivi heard the scream and looked towards the door it had come from.

"What was that?" Vivi asked.

"Nami's awake, the others will be up in a few minutes," Connor claimed and sat against the mast, Vivi stood next to him.

* * *

Nami's scream was heard though out the Merry and below deck a certain blond cook shot up.

"That was Nami," Sanji whispered "She's calling me. HANG ON NAMI-SWAN, I'M COMING," Sanji yelled out.

"SHUT UP YOU STUPID COOK," Zoro yelled and threw a pillow at him.

"Yeah, some people are trying to sleep," Usopp yawned.

"IDOT MY SWEET NAMI'S CALLING ME," Sanji shot back.

Zoro suddenly remembered what had happened and looked around for his swords; he found them next to his hammock.

"Damn bounty hunters," Zoro hissed, he grabbed his swords and pushed past Sanji heading for the exit.

"Bounty hunters? BOUNTY HUNTERS ARE ATTACKING NAMI. OUT OF THE WAY MOSS HEAD, NAMI-SWAN I'LL SAVE YYYOOOUUUU!"

"BOUNTY HUNTERS RUUNNNN," Usopp cried.

"Hey why are you lot yelling?" Luffy asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

Usopp suddenly got an idea.

"LUFFY, ZORO SAYS THERE'RE BOUNTY HUNTERS ON BOARD. THEY COULD BE AFTER OUR FOOD SUPPLY," Usopp lied.

"NNNOOOOOOO, NOT THE MEAT. I"LL KICK THEIR ASSESS," Luffy responded.

Sanji Zoro and Luffy all ran for the exit reached it at the same time, each wanted to go through it first and tried to force their way through and wound up getting stuck.

* * *

On deck Connor waited patiently for the straw hats to emerge, suddenly the hatch to the men's sleeping quarters flew open and the top half's of Luffy, Zoro and Sanji came up arguing.

"MEAT!" Luffy cried out.

"FORGET THE MEAT, WE NEED TO SAVE NAMI-SWAN," Sanji yelled.

"NO THE BOUNTY HUNTERS COME FIRST," Zoro agued.

They continued to ague and struggle unaware of their audience. Connor was watching trying very hard not to laugh and Vivi could not believe what she was seeing.

"Are they always like this?" Vivi whispered to Connor.

"They've never gotten stuck before," he whispered back.

After another minute Sanji and Zoro had gone from wanting to save Nami and kill bounty hunters to wanting to kill each other, Connor couldn't take it anymore and burst out laughing. The three stuck pirates stop struggling and looked at him in surprise; they hadn't seen him laugh like this before he was almost rolling around on the deck.

Zoro's eyes narrowed when he saw Vivi standing next to him, she was too close to Connor for his liking.

"Hey you, back off," Zoro threatened.

Sanji's eyes had turned to harts and he immiedtly began threating Zoro for his bad behaviour.

"Don't talk to a lady like that," Sanji warned.

"Idiot she's the enemy,"

"She's still a lady and should be treated with respect,"

And another fight broke out, Luffy managed to wiggled his way out and as soon as he was free Zoro and Sanji fell back down to the deck below, landing on top of Usopp. They quickly came back up and yelled at Luffy who was not paying attainon to them as he was fascinated by Carue.

Nami suddenly came out on deck in full panic mode, in Connors opinion the whole situation was incredibly funny and he could not stop laughing.

Vivi approached Zoro and stood in front of him, Zoro was a few seconds away from attacking her.

"I'm sorry for what I did in Whisky Peak," Vivi said bowing, this had caught Zoro off guard.

"It was never my intention but I had no choice. The leader of Baroque Works is planning on taking over my country, so Mr 8 and I infiltrated them to gain information on them for my country. Mr 8 died trying to protect me, so please take me home to Alabasta," Vivi explained.

"Huh?" Zoro stared at her dumbfounded

"She's a double agent for her country," Connor said, he'd finally stopped laughing "she got caught and needs a ride home,"

"Oh, okay. But why are you on our ship? Who let you on board? Why are you asking me this?"

"Well like your young friend said I need a ride home, he also let me on board and you're the captain so…"

"CONNOR DID WHAT?" Usopp panicked.

"Please don't be mad at him. He was just trying to help," Vivi begged.

Vivi and Connor explained everything and the rest of the crew took it surprisingly well, Vivi was very surprised to find out that Luffy was the captain and not Zoro. Luffy wanted to know the name of the man who was taking over Vivis country but Vivi refused to tell him so he asked Connor instead.

"Hey Connor if you know this guy's name tell me," Luffy said

"Crocodile," Connor answered.

"That's a weird name," Luffy said childishly.

"Why would you tell him that?" Vivi asked in surprise.

"I told you, I can't go against Luffy's orders,"

"If you know the name of the guy in charge, why not contact the Marines?" Usopp asked.

"Because crocodile is one of the Shichibukai. Or as their more commonly known as the Seven Warlords of the Sea,"

"Shichibukai?" Nami asked.

"They're pirates who are employed by the world government. As long as they are working for them their bounties are negated and anything they do is considered legal no matter what," Vivi explained.

"So Connor's on his hit list…neat," Luffy said happily.

"How is that a good thing? He'll kill us all if he finds us," Nami pointed out.

"I agree with Luffy, we knew that there would be strong opponents in the Grand Line but one of the Shichibukai as our first. Things just got more interesting," Zoro claimed.

"You clearly don't understand the danger you're all in," Vivi started.

"Sanji I'm hungry, what's for breakfast?" Luffy interrupted.

"You do know it's late afternoon right?" Connor pointed out.

"But breakfast is the first meal of the day. So I have to have breakfast before dinner tonight,"

"I'll go see what we've got," Sanji said and headed off to the kitchen.

"So are we taking her home then? Usopp asked.

"Yup, it'll be fun," Luffy said "Hey Connor good job finding us an adventure early on,"

"Sure, I just love to get on a Shichibukai's hit list," Connor answered sarcastically.

"Any chance you could get on Mihawkes list next?" Zoro asked.

"If I see him again I'll ask," Connor answered.

Vivi could not believe that none of them were taking the situation seriously, the more these pirates found out, the more excited they got. Usopp and Nami were incredibly scared and protested to fighting anyone working for the government but knew that ounce Luffy had set his mind to it there was no changing it.

"Hold on we're not going anywhere without the Log Pose. Someone took it," Nami pointed out.

"Oh here you go," Connor said and gave the pose back to Nami.


	4. Whisky Peak Pt 4

_**A.n I own Nothing**_

* * *

Over the next couple of days Vivi grew increasingly annoyed at the crew's behaviour. At first she thought she could deal with it but with each passing hour she grew more and more frustrated. Luffy and Usopp were like children with boundless energy and always playing, Sanji was always flirting with her and Nami; though she did enjoy all the snacks and drinks he made for her. Zoro was always sleeping on the deck and Connor just sat quietly like he was waiting for something.

Vivi brought it up with Nami but she just told her that this was normal behaviour. One day Vivi came out and was surprised that Zoro was awake, he was training with Connor. She watched for a bit but when Connor failed to block a strike and received a huge gash across the arm she intervened.

"What do you think you're doing?" Vivi cried out and rushed over.

"We're training, isn't that obvious?" Zoro responded.

"Well this training stops now,"

"Why we only just started the warm up,"

"Can you not see the blood on the boys arm? He needs treatment,"

"It's his fault for not blocking the strike,"

Vivi had had enough and she slapped Zoro across the face, the entire crew stopped whatever they were doing and stared at her.

"How dare you say that, you're the one who injured him," She hissed angrily "you're just an uncaring brute; I bet you wouldn't care if he died. If this is your idea of a warm up then it's lucky he hasn't lost a limb,"

Vivi grabbed Connors uninjured arm and dragged him into the kitchen, Zoro stared blankly at her as she left.

"What just happened?" he asked.

Nami sighed and the rest of the crew shrugged.

In the kitchen Vivi was looking for the first aid kit but wasn't getting very far in her frustrated state.

"What are you doing?" Connor asked.

"Looking for the first aid kit," Vivi answered.

"It's on top of the fridge," Connor said.

Vivi made her way over to the fridge and found the kit; she brought it over and opened it pulling out a bottle of anti-septic and a swab.

"This may sting a little," she said and wiping away the blood.

"Why did you snap at Zoro?"

"He hurt you,"

"So,"

"So? So it's never okay to hurt children,"

"He's right about it being my fault. I could have blocked that strike,"

"NO He is not right, it's his fault you got injured. He's such a brute you shouldn't be anywhere near him," Vivi put the now bloodied swab aside and got out some bandages.

"Vivi I'm fine, look," Connor said showing her his arm. Now that the blood had been wiped off she could clearly see the gash starting to scab over.

"How..."

"I heal quickly; in fact a minor injury like this will be gone within the hour and despite what you might think Zoro is not a bad guy,"

"But he…"

"He looks out for me; he gets pissed if someone even looks at me funny. He knows that our enemies will see me as a weakness and he knows that Luffy and the others can't always protect me so he's teaching me to defend myself,"

"By injuring you,"

"Our enemies aren't going to take it easy on me just because I'm a child,"

"That's no excuse; I don't want you training with him again,"

"Unfortunately that's not your call to make," Zoro said coming into the kitchen "Kid you still good to go?"

"Yup,"

"Good, let's get back to it," Zoro said and they both went back out on the deck.

* * *

The first chance Vivi got she brought the incident up with Luffy but he just laughed it off, he claimed that Zoro would never intentionally hurt Connor. Vivi was furious at Luffy for not punishing Zoro and even more so when she discovered that Zoro's training left Connor exhausted. She refused to talk to anyone for the rest of the day.

"B***** Pirates" she hissed.

Vivi didn't show for dinner so Nami took some food to her but the princess was stubborn and refused to eat it. The next morning Vivi didn't come of her room, she'd been sharing with Nami. She heard laughter on deck and peaked her head out curiously. The straw hats were feeding Carue a strange green drink, it was obviously alcoholic because Craue was swaying and hiccupping all over the place.

"CARUE!" Vivi yelled and ran out to her friend.

"Hey Vivi, your duck can't hold his liquor," Zoro joked.

"You think getting my friend drunk is funny?" Vivi asked.

"No it's hilarious," Luffy answered.

"We have an entire underground criminal organisation after us and you're getting my friend drunk. WHAT THE F*** IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE? HOW CAN YOU ALL ACT LIKE OUR LIVES AREN'T IN DANGER?"

"Whoa Vivi calm down," Usopp said.

"Yeah Vivi, if the wind changers your face'll stay angry for ever," Luffy teased.

"How can you be so carefree? People are dying and I'm doing nothing,"

"Well it's not like we're not worried, it's just that…" Nami stated.

"We can't do anything about it right now," Usopp finished.

"Yeah we'll worry about Crocodile and his men when they come after us, until then just relax," Zoro suggested.

"You don't need to worry, these guys saved the entire East Blue," Nami reassured her.

Vivi stared at Nami in surprise; these pirates saved an entire ocean, it did not seem possible. They were immature and childish, how could they have saved anyone.

"OI NAMI," Connor yelled from the crow's nest, "I SEE AN ISLAND STRAIGHT AHEAD,"

"LAND," Luffy cried out excitedly. "Nami can we get there,"

Nami checked the Log Pose, the needle was pointing directly at the Island.

"Yup, no doubt about it. That is our next stop," Nami announced.

"Alright adventure here we come," Luffy declared.

* * *

The Merry sailed up the stream that led into the island; it was entirely covered by a dense jungle. As the Merry sailed downstream the straw hats realised that they were being followed by a huge tiger. The tiger freaked Nami and Usopp out; Luffy wanted to pet it.

Once the ship could go no further they dropped anchor, Luffy immediately wanted to explore and had Sanji make him a pirate lunchbox. Vivi asked if she could tag along much to everyone's surprise and Luffy agreed to take her.

As soon as they left Zoro got up and jumped off the ship.

"Well I'm going for a walk," he announced.

"Hang on; our food supply is dangerously low. If you see anything eatable, bring it back," Sanji ordered.

"Sure, I'll do your dirty work for you,"

"What?"

"You're only asking me because you know that you'll never get enough on your own,"

"Oh yeah?" Sanji jumped off the ship "I bet I'd be able to hunt more meat then you could carry,"

"And how would you hunt with those scrawny legs of yours,"

"I could say the same about your dull swords,"

"Then how about a little hunting contest then?"

"Fine by me. The one that brings back the most amounts of meat wins," Sanji said.

"A hunting contest. Can I join in?" Connor asked.

"Sure kid," Zoro said "any problems with that cook?"

"None what so ever," Sanji answered.

Connor jumped down from the ship and ran off into the jungle, Zoro and Sanji went their separate ways too. It was only after everyone had gone that Usopp and Nami realised that they were alone.

Connor wandered through the jungle looking for something to hunt, he stopped a shallow stream and noticed some odd looking shellfish. He followed the stream and eventually came across a stegosaurs.

'Is that edible?' Connor wondered.

He drew his blade and charged at it, the dinosaur went down in one strike. Connor grabbed the tail and began his trek back to the Merry. The dinosaur was heavy but the boy managed to drag it along behind him.

About half way back he met up with Zoro and Sanji they were both dragging dinosaurs as well, Zoro had a triceratops and Sanji had a tyrannosaurs. When they spotted each other they laid their kill next to each other, Zoro and Sanji immediately got into a fight over who had won.

"Mines got more meat," Zoro pointed out.

"Yours is fatter yes but we can hardly eat any of it. Mines longer and has more substantial meat," Sanji agued back.

"Mines probably the heaviest," Connor added, he really didn't care about the contest he'd just wanted to get off the ship.

"Well we clearly can't decide from these," Sanji said.

"Alright how about one more round, the person who brings back the largest hunt is the winner,"

Suddenly a volcano eruption was heard.

"Alright the next time that erupts signals the end of our contest," Sanji suggested.

"Agreed," and Zoro headed back off into the jungle.

Sanji also headed back into the jungle, Connor sighed and wandered off to do some exploring. He had no idea where he was going and he could also keep an eye out for any suitable pray. Connor had a leisurely walkthrough the jungle, he passed several more dinosaurs, but after the last round he'd decided not to hunt them. He spotted a large tiger earlier and was currently on its trail, it turned out that the tiger was hunting as well and led him to a heard of very large wild pigs.

'Now those are defiantly edible,' he thought to himself.

He spied one away from the herd and silently made his way over, careful not to alert the rest of the herd. He got into position and was as about to strike, when he felt something sharp pierce his neck. He reached up and pulled out a small red dart, suddenly his body felt very weak. Connor leaned against a tree for support but his legs gave out and he collapsed, he saw a blurry figure approach and it grabbed his leg; he felt himself being dragged away before he blacked out.

* * *

Connor woke up with a jolt but his vison remained dark, he tried to use his hands to clear whatever was blocking his sight but herd they would and move. He felt the cold metal of cuffs on his wrists behind his back, his back was against something round and there was something in his mouth.

'I must be chained to something, but what? It's too smooth for a tree and too thin for a rock,' Connor thought.

He heard a moaning sound next to him, he wasn't alone. Whoever it was also tried to get up but the sound of clinking told Connor that they were in the same situation as he was.

"Don't bother," a female voice said "you're hands and feet are chained behind wax pillars. You're not going anywhere,"

Connor herd muffled struggles next to him; he mentally rolled his eyes as whoever it was wasted their energy.

"So you're the boy who knows the boss's secret," the voice continued.

Connor froze Baroque works.

"To bad we caught we caught up with you. Now we just have to eliminate the princess and the rest of the straw hats and everything will be fine,"

So that was it, he'd been caught but Vivi and the crew were still out there, if he could escape he could warn them. The sound of a Den-Den Mushi ringing was heard and it was answered.

"Mr 3" the voice answered.

"Miss Goldenweek I'm all set up here. Have you taken care of our two guests?"

"They're not going anywhere,"

"Good then come help me out with the others,"

"Understood,"

She hung up.

"I have to go now and kill an annoying princess. But you two sadly won't live to see it. Kill the boy," she ordered and left.

Connor had no time to wonder if some else was with them as well, because he felt something jab at his chest and then he felt nothing at all.

* * *

Sanji struggled against his bonds; the second he'd woken up he tried to escape. The female voice did nothing to help either, but when she mentioned knowing Crocodiles name he realised that Connor was most likely with him. The voice also mentioned killing Vivi and Sanji desperately wanted to rush to her rescue, like a knight in shining armour or a prince out of a fairy tale book.

'I'd be her Mr. Prince. Hey that has a nice ring to it' Sanji thought.

His thoughts were interrupted when the female voice ordered someone to kill Connor, Sanji wanted nothing more than to save the boy but he could not break free. he could hear whoever it was approach him and move behind him.

'This is it whoever's behind me will kill me,' he thought and braced for the end.

Suddenly his hands came free, he herd the chains hit the ground and his feet were released as well. He quickly ripped off the blind fold, he winced as the sudden change blinded him for a few seconds and looked around, and he froze when he saw Connor.

The boy was chained to a pillar, with a blindfold over his eyes and a gag in his mouth. He was leaning forward slightly being held up by the chains, he wasn't breathing; in fact there was no indication that he was alive.

Sanji stared at Connors limp form, he'd forgotten about the boy's killer that was still in the cave with him. It was only when the person who had freed him released Connor that he remembered that they were still there. With the chains gone Connors body fell to the ground, Sanji glared at the killer and was quite surprised to find a young woman.

Her face was young and her features were that of a woman in the early twenties, but her blue eyes held suspicion and caution only found in the most experienced of fighters. He black hair was straightened and heled back by her braided fringe, which was tied together at the back of her head.

She wore a dark grey leather buttoned up hooded jacket with gold tipped buttons, it came down to her waist, blood red marital extend from her coat giving it a dress like appeal. Her belt held a single pistol and many knives as well as an ornate looking cane. Her brown knee high boots covered thin black pants.

Sanji wanted to avenge Connor but he'd been brought up to respect women and he knew deep down that if he ever got into a fight with one he could never harm them.

The woman knelt over Connors body and jabbed his chest again, Connor instantly woke up coughing and gasping for air. Sanji took out the gag and removed the blind fold; he'd never been so relived.

"Connor you're alive," he said happily, giving the boy a hug.

"Sanji, what's going on?" Connor asked back.

"You need to leave, now," the woman said urgently.

"What did you do? Who are you?" Sanji asked urgently.

"My name's Evie and I just killed your friend,"

"Sanji I can't move," Connor said worriedly.

"A small side effect, it'll pass. Now we really need to get out of here," Evie hissed.

"Normally I'd follow a pretty girl like you but you just admitted to killing my friend. So why should we go with you?" Sanji demanded harshly.

"You think I'm pretty?" Evie blushed "I'll explain as we go,"

Sanji carried Connor on his back and followed Evie out of the cave into the jungle. They walked for a while until Sanji demanded answers.

"Why'd you attack us?" Sanji asked.

"I didn't want to, really. I came to this island to look for something," Evie claimed. "Miss Goldenweek has hypnotic powers, if she gets you with her paint you fall under her spell,"

"So she hypnotized you?"

"At first yes, but the control can be overcome if you have a strong mind, it just takes some time. By the time she had ordered me to kill your friend I was no longer under her control,"

"Then what did you do to Connor?"

"Miss Goldenweek was still there so I played along, I jabbed a pressure point that would give the appearance of death,"

"Appearance of death?"

"Yes, extremely light breathing and temporary paralysis. Unless you looked really close you wouldn't know the difference between him and a corpse,"

"So hit that point once and fake your own death, hit it a second time to revive them?"

"Pretty much,"

"But I can't move," Connor complained.

"Don't worry, like I said it'll wear off. Usually takes a good day or two,"

"WHAT?!" both Connor and Sanji yelled.

"Sorry but it was the only thing I could think of at the time,"

"Why didn't you just fight Miss Goldenweek?" Connor asked.

"And risk falling back under her spell? If I had done that then you would be dead for real," Evie claimed.

"She's right, besides you heal pretty fast. I bet you'll be moving in no time," Sanji pointed out.

"I guess, not very useful in battle though,"

"Well not on yourself but it comes in handy when dealing with your enemies. Or your annoying, reckless idiot of a brother,"

"So a baroque works agent who can hypnotize there enemies. Wonder what fruit that is?" Sanji commented.

"Miss Goldenweek doesn't have a devil fruit power," Evie claimed "Also why would a top Baroque works agent want a kid like you dead?"

Sanji explained the situation with Vivi to Evie; she took it rather well and was not surprised in the least. It explained why Miss Goldenweek was so set on killing a child.

"Oh that's a real downer. But you do know that Little Garden takes 100yrs for the Log to set, right?"

"WHATT?! 100YRS," Sanji yelled out. "How are we supposed get Vivi-chan back home?"


	5. Whisky Peak Pt 5

_**A.n I own Nothing.**_

* * *

Sanji continued to wander through the jungle with Connor on his back. After their talk Evie had run off to find and warn Vivi about Miss Goldenweek being on the Island, Sanji had wanted to come along as well but Connor was still paralysed. Sanji decided to drop the boy back at the ship and then find Vivi and Luffy.

The problem was he was lost; Sanji did not get lost easily unlike a certain green haired swordsman he knew. It's just that he didn't know which way the Merry was and he hadn't thought to ask Evie for directions.

"I bet that moss head has found something huge by now. Stupid swordsman," Sanji muttered irritably.

"I'm sorry," Conner mumbled.

Sanji instantly regretted what he said; he looked over his shoulder at Connor. 'He must think it's his fault' Sanji thought.

"Hey it's not your fault, I'll just beat him in the next contest," Sanji tried.

"…"

"Seriously don't worry about it,"

Sanji turned back to focus on where he was walking and suddenly stopped, in front of him was a small hut made of wax. He walked up to it and touched it; just to be sure he wasn't seeing things. Sanji found the door and went inside; it was a one room hut inside was a small living area was set up. Complete with two single chairs, a couch, a coffee table and a rug laid out on the floor. On the table was a very pretty decorated tea pot with two matching cups and sauces.

Sanji lowered Connor onto one of the chairs and inspected the tea pot; he found that it was full and still warm. He poured himself a cup, it was good. Sanji inspected the rest of the room and found a small bench with a large snail phone, some papers and an eternal pose that had Alabasta written on it.

"This is an odd looking Log Pose," Sanji noted.

Ring-Ring Ring –Ring.

The Snail phone rang suddenly, Sanji picked up the receiver.

"This is the S***** Restaurant, how may I take your order?" Sanji joked.

"Cut the crap," the voice on the other end said in a no nonsense tone.

"Right sorry may I ask who is calling?"

"It's me, Mr. 0,"

Sanji froze, he was talking to the boss of Baroque Works, he instantly thought about hanging up but that would be suspicious.

"Have you eliminated the princess yet?"

"We've captured her and the boy," Sanji lied "but she's with a group of pirates,"

"So? Eliminate them too,"

"This group has some pretty high bounties; I was thinking of turning them over to the marines,"

"As long as the princess and the boy are killed, how much are we talking about?"

"The captain has a bounty of 80,000,000 and the first mate has a bounty of 50,000,000,"

"Sounds like the kid pirates, be careful of the captains devil fruit power,"

"So I have permission to go ahead?"

"Yes and when your done head back to Alabasta for the final stage in my plan," Mr. 0 finished and hung up.

"That was intense," Sanji sighed "man Crocodile sounds like a massive prick,"

"He didn't sound very nice," Connor said.

"Well that should give us some breathing room. But how are we going to get to Alabasta?"

"That compass looks like an eternal pose, where dose it lead?"

"Who knows, it just says Alabasta…wait you don't think,"

"Vivi told me that an Eternal Pose will always point in the direction of the island that's written on it,"

"So this will show us the way? We could even bypass other islands altogether," Sanji realized "we should leave, those agents could come back at any minute,"

Sanji pocketed the Eternal Pose; he went over to Connor and picked the boy up and left the house. Now that they had the Eternal Pose they could head straight to Alabasta.

* * *

Evie stood on top of a brontosaurus, she'd climbed up to get a good view of the Island and she had to find the princess. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, when she opened her eyes her senses to cover a good portion of the island. She could see everything, the animals the streams and even hear the soft breeze; then she saw it a giant wax pillar with three people trapped underneath it.

"Found you," she said.

Evie patted the dinosaur and thanked him for his help, she walked to the edge of his face and leaped of it without hesitation; Evie dived gracefully all the way down landing in a contently placed pile of leaves. She emerged unharmed and ran off in the direction of the giant wax pillar, leaving a very stunned dinosaur behind.

When Evie arrived she hid behind a tree to assess the situation.

He was an average-sized man with a rather frail-looking build. He wore a striped blue vest with a red bow tie, light brown pants and matching shoes. He had neatly combed black hair and wore stylish sunglasses. His most distinguish feature was the big 3 on top of his head.

Mr. 3 was bragging about how the trapped straw hats under the giant candle were going to be his greatest Master piece. Zoro was even striking a pose.

'That must be Mr. 3 but where's Miss Goldenweek…Ah there she is,'

Miss Goldenweek was a small child, with large eyes. She was quite short and had dark red hair tied in braided pigtails. Her attire consists of a wide-brimmed pink hat with a green band, a dark blue T-shirt, a sky blue cloud-patterned button-down shirt, a maroon-coloured overalls skirt with the top folded down, blue striped stockings, and big red shoes with white cuffs.

She was on a picnic blanket with a straw hatted boy, who was clearly struggling against her powers.

'Okay I've got to deal with Miss Goldenweek first, if I don't I run the risk of being hypnotized again,' Evie thought.

Evie faded out of sight and snuck carefully up behind Miss Goldenweek, she was offering Luffy some biscuits. Evie jabbed a small dart into the girl's neck, the effect was instantaneous and she slumped to the ground.

"Wha?!" Luffy exclaimed in surprise, he felt the control fade.

Mr. 3 whirled around just in time to see Evie fad back into view.

"Mr. 3 I presume," Evie said "My mentor sends his greetings,"

Mr. 3 froze in pure terror at the sight of Evie.

"I've done nothing wrong. You have no reason to target me or my partner," he said fearfully.

"I don't take kindly to being controlled by others. Besides I can't let you get away with murdering a princess,"

"How do you know about that?"

"A little boy told me,"

"That brat still lives?"

"Connor? You tried to kill Connor?" Luffy accused Mr. 3.

"Actually they tried to make me kill him. Spoiler alert: they failed," Evie claimed.

"So he's alive?"

"And unharmed, I'd like to pay this man back for taking control of me. So I'll help you out, I'll take on Mr. 3 here while you save them,"

"Thanks," Luffy said and ran towards the giant candle.

"Oh no you don't," Mr. 3 said, trying to stop Luffy.

Evie charged at Mr. 3 and punched him hard in the face, the hit broke his nose.

"Can you really afford to take your eyes off me?" Evie asked calmly.

'She's right, she's too dangerous. I have to focus on her for now,' Mr. 3 thought.

He launched a stream of wax at Evie but she easily dodged it.

"That's an interesting power; did you eat a Devil Fruit?"

"Yes I ate the Doru Doru no Mi (Wax-Wax Fruit)"

"Interesting, let's see how your fruit matches up to mine," Evie goaded and faded out of sight again.

Mr. 3 was stumped; he had just seen his opponent fade away. She didn't run into the jungle she just disappeared. He suddenly felt something hit him in the gut, it was an invisible force. It almost knocked him down but Mr. 3 maintained his ground. He looked around in fear and another punch hit him in the ribs, another in the eye and finally one in the nuts.

"This is too easy, aren't you going to fight back at all?" Evie's voice sounded through the air.

"Let's see how well you fight when you're surrounded. Wax-Clone!" Mr. 3 yelled and wax spewed from his fingertips, creating several dozen wax clones.

'With this I can confuse her and attack unseen' Mr. 3 thought.

Mr. 3 attempted to make his way over to Luffy who was in the process of destroying the giant candle but he suddenly felt something sharp and painful go through his thigh. He looked down and saw an ornate cane handle that was attached to a very sharp blade sticking out of his leg.

"Do you know what my specialty is, Mr. 3?" Evie asked dangerously, coming back into view.

Mr. 3 turned around to see Evie fade back into view, he shook his head.

"Infiltration, you see I've been trained from a young age to be the best infiltrator there is. And thanks to my Devil Fruit power I can pass unseen if I want too. Like all my brothers and sisters I've also been trained to fight, but do you know what my favourite weapon is?"

Mr. three tried to back away but Evie stopped him by pulling out a small knife.

"The knife. It's so small yet it can do so much damage. It's also very easy to clean the blood off,"

Evie held the small knife up to Mr. 3's throat, all she had to do was slit his throat and that would be the end of it. She'd have her revenge and as a Baroque Works officer he was far from innocent. Instead she quickly ripped the cane sword out of his leg and hit him on the back of the head with its hilt, knocking him out.

"But I wouldn't want to sully my knives with your tainted blood," Evie said coldly.

Evie sheathed her cane blade and walked over to Luffy and found that the giant candle had been destroyed but it was too late, the straw hats had already been tuned into wax statues. Luffy was yelling at the statues to do something to indicate that his crew was still alive. Evie's eyes flashed gold for a split second and she walked up to Vivi with her knife flicking skilfully through her fingers.

"Oi what are you doing?" Luffy cried out.

Evie ignored him and put the tip of her knife on Vivi's forehead, she applied a small amount of pressure and the wax covering her head and face broke and fell away. Vivi gasped for air and Evie did the same to Zoro and Nami.

"How'd you do that?" Luffy asked.

"It's just wax," Evie responded.

Suddenly Sanji burst through the jungle, ready to fight.

"NAMI-SWAN, VIVI-CHAN, EVIE-CHAWN. I'M HERE TO SAVE YOU, FEEL FREE TO JUMP INTO MY ARMS!" Sanji yelled, suddenly six knives came flying at him pining his jacket to a tree.

"I don't need saving. I especially would not accept being saved by you," Evie said darkly, she had a very dark aura around her.

Sanji blinked and did something incredibly stupid "whoa you're cute when you're angry," he said.

Evie snapped and threw a seventh knife at him. It embedded it in the tree just below Sanji's crouch. Sanji's eyes widened at how close it was. Zoro burst out laughing.

"Hey lady nice throw, but you missed," He joked.

"SHUT UP YOU SORRY EXCUSE OF ABSTRACT ART!" Sanji yelled back.

Zoro laughed at the irony of Sanji's situation, and Vivi was stunned at how violent the woman was.

"Hey lady, join my crew," Luffy demanded.

"No," Evie replied bluntly.

"Aww why not?"

"I'm already indebted to someone and I have no desire to leave that debt unpaid,"

"Umm…Miss Evie could you please remove these knives?" Sanji asked in a small voice.

"No leave him like that. It'll be a good lesson for him," Zoro advised.

"Shut it Moss head," Sanji angrily retorted.

Between Luffy and Evie they were able to free Zoro, Nami and Vivi from the wax. Zoro went over to Sanji and inspected one of the knives; he was surprised to find that all of the knives in question had a deceptively dull edge. He inspected each of the knives and they were all the same.

Nami and Luffy were thanking Evie for saving them, but Evie assured them that it was nothing. Vivi however stood away from the rest and was eying the woman suspiciously, she felt like she had seen her somewhere before.

"Hey blondie what happened to that kid who was with you?" Evie asked Sanji, finally removing the knives.

"Oh he's back at the ship with our sniper," Sanji answered.

Evie nodded, she glanced over to the fallen Mr. 3 and Miss Goldenweek.

"I don't suppose you could give me a ride do you?" Evie asked.

"NOO! Absolutely not," Vivi immediately shouted.

The straw hats stared at her blankly.

"We're kind of in a hurry to get to Alabasta," Nami explained.

"To stop the civil war, I know. But my ship was destroyed by these two," she said and pointed at Mr. 3 and Miss Goldenweek "so if I could hitch a ride I'd appreciate it,"

"You don't mind traveling to Alabasta?" Zoro asked suspiciously.

Evie shook her head. "My mentors most trusted friend owns a shop in Nanohana. I'll ask him for help once I get there,"

"But we can't let her come with us," Vivi protested.

"Why not, she's going to the same country we are," Luffy pointed out.

"Because it's too dangerous. If any of the Baroque works agents find her with us, she'll be marked for death,"

"But she just single handily took down two of them,"

"She did help me and Connor out of jam earlier," Sanji admitted.

"Okay she can come," Luffy said.

"But the danger…"

"Princess your concern is touching but unwarranted. If I were you I'd keep it for someone who actually needs it,"

Vivi was stunned at the bluntness of Evie's tone and attitude.

"Hold on the Log hasn't set yet," Nami pointed out.

"It won't set for 100yrs," Evie clamed.

"WHAT?" the straw hats yelled together.

"That's what I came to tell you. Connor and I found a house with something called an Eternal Pose to Alabasta. We can leave right away and our Log can reset once we're there," Sanji said.

"That's a relief" Vivi sighed. Happy she would not have to wait a full century to save her country.

"So you got a name?" Luffy asked.

"Evie. My name is Evie Frye,"


	6. Drum Island Pt 1

_**A.n I own nothing.**_

 _ **Please Review**_

* * *

When Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Nami, Vivi and Evie got back to the ship they were surprised to find two giants having a cook out and even more surprising was that Usopp was chatting with them and he was not afraid.

When Usopp noticed the crew he called them over

"Hey guys, how was the Island?" Usopp asked.

"Never mind that what's going on here?" Nami cried.

"Oh, I'm having lunch with these Giants. They live on the Island,"

"Amazing, I guess that's why this place is called Little Garden," Evie said in awe.

"Why aren't you scared? You're scared of everything," Zoro asked.

"I was at first but these guys are really amazing, they've been fighting a duel for over 100yrs,"

"Awesome," Luffy said with stars in his eyes.

"Aren't they? They showed up just after Sanji had dropped Connor off and asked if we had any beer. I was terrified so I gave them some of Zoros' and then they invited me to lunch. I thought they were going to eat me and told them that I was guarding the ship, so the set up here and they've been telling me about their home Elbaf," Usopp explained.

"Awesome I want to hear about it," Luffy declared.

"We don't have time, we have to get to Alabasta," Vivi urged.

"AAWWWWW," Luffy whined.

The straw hats boarded the Merry and set off Luffy was upset and jealous that Usopp got to spend some time with the giants. Usopp filled him in on what they had talked about and the two decided that they would travel to Elbaf one day.

Luffy introduced Evie to Usopp and told him that they would be giving her a lift to Alabasta.

Nami took the Eternal pose from Sanji and set the course, Zoro had decided to train by himself for a while, he felt guilty that he'd been caught in Mr 3's trap.

"I'm too weak, first whisky peak and now that wax trap. I need to be stronger," he muttered to himself, as he swung a long metal pole with serval heavy weight discs on it.

Connor had recovered from his paralysis and was watching Luffy and Usopp dance on the ships railing; he was wondering if the two were going to fall off when Evie approached him.

"Hi there, I never got your name," She said politely.

"It's Connor," the boy replied.

"So Connor sorry about earlier,"

"It's fine,"

"Yeah so…would you like to learn some self-defence?"

Connor looked Evie in the eye "I already know how to fight with and without a weapon,"

"Really? How good are you?"

"Good enough,"

"Show me,"

"What?" Connor asked in surprise.

"Show me how good you are," Evie repeated.

Connor didn't have anything else to do; he had hoped to train with Zoro but it didn't look like that was going to happen any time soon, so he agreed to Evie's request.

They started out with weapons and Evie assured the boy that she would only defend, Evie was impressed with the boy's level of skill with a blade. Then they moved onto hand to hand combat, it turned out that Connor knew various different types of Martial arts and he was incorporating different styles of fighting flawlessly.

"You're good, where did you learn to fight like that?" Evie asked when they stopped for a break.

"Zoro's teaching the blade," Connor answered.

"And the Martial arts?

Connor didn't answer.

"Well you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I did notice you focus a lot on attacking though,"

"Is that bad?"

"It can be, if you leave yourself open, whoever taught you to fight didn't focus much on defence did they?"

"How do you know that?" Connor asked in surprise.

It was true his previous Master had taught him how to take opponents down quickly, his masters philosophy had been that if you got hurt then it was your own fault. Connor had only been taught the basics in blocking and that was it.

"I can see it in the way you move, you're less open when you use a blade then when you fight without one. I can show you a handy little move for dealing with any opponent it you like,"

"I wouldn't want to trouble you,"

"Connor if it were any trouble I wouldn't have offered,"

Evie showed Connor a technique that would work on any opponent no matter what the size, the technique was a basic counter that used the enemies weight and momentum against them; it was simple yet very effective.

Connor did not get it right away, after an hour of trying he still hadn't mastered it. Evie assured him that he just needed practice and decided that they should take a break. It was at this point that Sanji came out with some cakes he'd made for the girls; Luffy and Usopp instantly demanded some and ran into the kitchen to get their share.

Evie came over and tried one of the cakes and decided that it was the most delicious thing she'd ever tasted; she also noticed that Nami looked very exhausted.

"Are you all right?" Evie asked Nami concerned.

"Yeah I'm just a bit tired, I think I'll go lie down for a bit," Nami answered.

She struggled to get up, she didn't get two steps before she collapsed from exhaustion, and Evie caught her before she hit the deck.

"NAMI!" Vivi screamed.

The entire crew came running over to see what had happened.

"She's burning up," Evie said, feeling the navigator's temperature.

"Get her into bed quickly, Sanji I need a bowl of cold water," Vivi advised.

Evie carried Nami bridal style and followed Vivi into her room, once there she laid Nami on the bed. Sanji rushed in with the bowl and Vivi immediately began trying to cool Nami down with a damp towel. Usopp Luffy Connor and Carue came in and Usopp gave Vivi a thermometer.

"What's wrong with her?" Luffy asked "Was it something she ate?"

"Impossible, I only use the freshest ingredients when preparing Nami's and Vivi's Food," Sanji claimed "as a matter of fact anything that's over two days old or looks rotten goes to you and Usopp,"

"What? Are you trying to poison us?" Usopp panicked.

"Really? Well it all tastes good so I guess that's okay. Just don't feed me any bad tasting food," Luffy said.

Sanji instantly thought of Apis's attempts at Cooking and how Luffy was the only one who ate it.

"Do Zoro and I get old food too?" Connor asked concerned, not that it mattered to him.

"No, I was just kidding around. But as long as I'm on board this ship, no one will ever have to worry about nutrition or getting sick from any kind of food," Sanji said seriously.

Vivi pulled out the thermometer and freaked out.

"40 degrees, that's not good. Is there some on board with medical knowledge?" the princess asked.

Luffy, Usopp, Sanji and Connor all pointed at Vivi.

"Wait you don't have a doctor? How have you survived all this time?" Evie asked.

"I've never been sick before," Luffy, Usopp and Sanji said at the same time.

Vivi stared at them in shock, how was it possible to go your whole life without being sick. She looked at Connor hoping that he was at least normal and aware that not getting sick was not normal.

"Don't look at me, I can't get sick anymore," Connor claimed.

"There you go, I guess we're just lucky," Luffy responded.

"Well your lucks just run out, if she doesn't get to a doctor quick you'll be looking for a new navigator," Evie warned.

"WHAAAATTTTT? NAMI'S GOING TO DIE," Luffy screamed.

This of course sent Usopp and Sanji into a panic and ran around the room.

"WILL YOU THREE SHUT UP!" Vivi shouted at them.

"It's alright, I'm okay," Nami said weakly.

"No you're not," Evie said bluntly.

"No one can have a fever as high as 40 degrees," Nami continued.

"Yes they can,"

"Besides we need to get to Alabasta as soon as possible," Nami said getting up "it's fine, I'm fine really,"

Nami left the room.

"So she's all better?" Luffy asked.

"Idiot she's putting on a brave face," Usopp corrected him.

Evie shock her head and left the room "She's as stubborn as my brother,"

* * *

Nami made her way back on deck and checked the ships course; they were heading in the wrong direction.

"Who the hell is navigating this ship?" Nami muttered angrily "everyone was in my room, the only person who wasn't was…Zoro,"

Nami stormed over to were Zoro was lifting some weights; he took one look at Nami and commented on how sick she looked. Nami was about to yell at Zoro for his poor sense of direction, but suddenly noticed the air had changed slightly.

"Everyone get on deck now," she called out.

The rest of the crew along with Evie and Vivi came on deck.

"We need to move the ship, turn starboard and catch the wind," Nami ordered.

Everyone was quick to obey, Evie and Vivi went up to support the red haired navigator who was having trouble standing. Evie noted that Nami should be in bed and Vivi agreed, when the Merry had returned to its original course Nami sighed with relief and collapsed in Vivi's arms.

"We need to find a doctor quick," Vivi observed.

"HOLY S***, WHAT IS THAT?" Luffy yelled out pointing behind the Merry.

Everyone turned to see what the Captain was pointing at, there behind them was a massive cyclone.

"That's a Cyclone, it's huge" Vivi claimed.

Evie shot a wary glance at Nami, the weather on the Grand Line was impossible to predict. Storms and Cyclones even more so, yet this navigator had done it; Evie knew of various Devil fruits that gave control over the elements and minor weather control abilities but they had all been eaten and there was no known Devil fruit for complete control of the weather. A person who could predict the Grand Lines wild weather was possibly the most valuable person in the world and the most dangours.

"Vivi do you still have that other compass?" Connor asked.

"Oh, you mean this one?" Vivi pulled out the Eternal Pose that Miss All-Sundy had given her.

The compass was pointing west of their current location.

"Maybe there's a doctor on that Island,"

"Where'd you get that?" Zoro asked.

"We had a visit from Mr 0's Partner and she gave it to me," Vivi claimed.

"Then we shouldn't go there,"

"But Nami could die if we don't," Usopp pointed out.

"And if there are Baroque Works agents waiting for us. We will likely die," Sanji said seriously.

"Which Island is it?" Evie asked.

"Does it matter?" Luffy replied.

"I have contacts in the area, if you give me the name of the Island I can find out if there are any Baroque Works agents around that Island,"

"It's Drum, Drum Island," Vivi reading the name on the pose.

"Okay give me a few minutes alone," Evie requested.

The Straw hats decided to take Nami back to her room; they all went inside leaving Evie alone on deck. Once the Straw hats were inside Evie pulled out a white snail phone and called her contact.

"Hello?" the voice on the other end answered, it was a males voice.

"Jacob, it's me," Evie said.

The phone was silent for a second.

"Evie? WHERE THE B**** H*** HAVE YOU BEEN? DO YOU KNOW HOW WORRED I HAVE BEEN?,"

"JACOB SHUT UP!"

The phone was silent again.

"Listen I completed my mission and found the map fragment, but I had a run in with Mr 3 and Miss Goldenweek. She put me under her control for a short time,"

"Baroque Works…I'll kill them for that. Hang tight sis I'm on my way, Where are you now?"

"On a pirate ship,"

"Oh so it's okay for you to start your own pirate crew, but when I want to start a street gang it's and I quote 'the worst idea I've ever had',"

"I didn't start this crew. Also a Pirate crew and a street gang are two completely different things,"

"Not really. The main difference is one is at sea and one is on land. So have you killed them yet?"

"No not yet,

"Good wait for me and we'll kill them together,"

"That would be too easy besides I need you to check up on something first,"

"Fine I'll do your dirty work, what is it?"

"Are there any Baroque work agents near Drum Island?"

"Drum, why would you be heading there?"

"The ships navigator is sick and needs immediate medical attention. Drum Island is the closest,"

"I'll check hang on,"

The line went silent for a minute and Evie sighed, she missed her brother.

"Eve? You still there?" Jacob asked.

"Yes, that was quick,"

"Achilles was sorting out some data and you know how the old man gets,"

"You didn't annoy him again did you?"

"After what happened last time, believe it or not I like my manhood where it is,"

"So that Intel,"

"The latest report has all agents heading straight to Alabaster except Mr 2; he was just dispatched on a mission by Mr 0. And it looks like the Baroque works have never gone anywhere near Drum Island,"

"Great thanks Jacob,"

"Yeah just come home soon and be careful around those pirates,"

"Don't worry I can handle them,"

"I never said you couldn't. Oh and one more thing whatever you do don't mention the name Wapol in Drum, It's Taboo."

"Got it,"

"Hey I could meet you at Drum if you like,"

"That's not necessary,"

"Okay bye sis," Jacob said and the connection cut.

Evie put the phone away and headed into Namis room, as she approached the door she stopped.

"Do you always listen to peoples calls?" She asked.

Zoro emerged from the shadows, he was glaring at her.

"Only when they involve the safety of my friends. So are you going to kill us all?"

"If I was you'd all be dead by now also your stealth needs work," she said and entered the room.

The straw hats looked at her when she entered the room.

"Good news my source says that there are no agents near Drum, in fact they've never been there" Evie announced.

"Right then let go and find a doctor for Nami," Luffy declared.

The rest of the straw hats agreed, Luffy decided that Vivi should handle navigating the ship. Zoro decided that he wouldn't let Evie out of his sight but that was proving extremely difficult, one second she was in front of him and the next she was in a completely different part of the ship; all Zoro had done was blink and Evie had vanished from sight.

* * *

That night Sanji was on watch while the rest of the crew slept in Nami's quarters, Zoro was adamant that Evie sleep elsewhere and surprisingly she agreed. In the middle of the night Evie was wondering around the deck silently, Sanji had fallen asleep; Evie was quit surprised when she found Connor overlooking the ocean.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" Evie asked the boy as she approached him.

"Shouldn't you?" Connor asked back.

"I never sleep in places I don't know,"

"How come?"

"I just don't feel safe. So what's your excuse?"

"I have bad nightmares,"

"Really what about?"

"I don't like to talk about it,"

Evie nodded 'they must be pretty bad, what could of happened to him?' she wondered.

"So how did end up on a pirate ship?"

"Luffy can be very pervasive,"

"So he brought you on board, wonder how the captain took that bit of news,"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well no pirate in their right mind would make a kid part of their crew. I'm surprised Zoro allowed it,"

Connor stared at Evie blankly and blinked in confusion.

"Zoro's not the Captain, Luffy is,"

"Ha that's a good one,"

"I wasn't joking,"

"Seriously? That straw hatted kid is the captain, the one who spent the entire day making funny faces and dancing on the ships railing?"

"Yup that's him,"

They stood in silence Evie was absorbing this new information, the silence was broken when Nami staggered out on deck; she looked worse than before.

"Nami? What are you doing up?" Connor asked.

"Oh Connor here you are, you weren't with the others so I was worried," Nami said weakly.

Connor and Evie came over and helped Nami sit down, Evie felt her temperature and she was very hot.

"You should be in bed," Evie noted.

"I know but I thought the air might do me some good," Nami said "Connor could you get me some water please?"

Connor nodded and ran off to the kitchen, when he was gone Nami turned to Evie.

"He had another nightmare didn't he?" she asked.

"I don't know he was out here before I was but he said he suffers from them. Do you know what he dreams about?"

"It could be any number of things; he's had a rough life,"

"Oh, is it true that Luffy's the Captain?"

"Yes it's true,"

"Then why would he bring a kid to the most dangerous sea in the world?"

"He has his reasons and we won't abandon him,"

Evie was about to ask for further details when Connor came back with the water, he handed it to Nami and she drank it. Nami decided she wanted to go back to bed so Connor helped her, Evie wished them both a goodnight before she too headed back to her bed.

* * *

The next morning a heavy mist and dense fog surrounded the Merry it made Navigating difficult it was also very cold, the crew had to put on their winter gear; Luffy was the exception. Evie didn't have any warm cloths so Usopp gave her one of Namis coats to wear, shortly after the Merry had set of it started to snow lightly.

"Hey the snows back," Usopp pointed out.

"Why hasn't the weather changed? It always changes," Sanji stated.

"We might be close to a winter island," Evie stated.

"How can you tell?" Connor asked.

"On the Grand Line each island has its own climate range. Every Island will be set to one of the four seasons and that season never changes," Vivi explained.

"So if we land on a summer Island, that island will be in summer forever," Sanji clarified.

"Yup, the Island I live on is a spring island, so we get rain every now and then. That's also why the weather is so unpredictable this ocean has four different weather cycles all at once not to mention the amount of Islands that are out here. So when the weather stabilises that means you're close to an Island," Evie finished.

"So it's a mystery sea," Luffy childishly said.

Over the course of the next few hours the temperature dropped, Vivi and Sanji went to go take care of Nami while Luffy, Usopp, Connor and Evie remained on deck and Zoro was in the crow's nest looking for an Island. According to the Etranl pose they were very close.

Luffy and Usopp were playing in the snow and teaching Connor how to make a snow man when Zoro called down to them.

"Oi guys I see something," Zoro called down.

"Is it a doctor?" Luffy asked.

"Idiot, why would a doctor be out here?" Usopp scolded.

"Well maybe. Can people stand on water?" Zoro asked.

"Not that I know of" Evie answered.

"Then what is that ahead of us?" Zoro asked.

They all turned to the front of the ship and sure enough was a man standing on water.

The man was a bit taller than average, he had wavy lips and a sad expression. He wore a checkered jester-like green-blue costume with purple lining at the end of the sleeves, a white winter cape with purple lining, a light brown bow and a bag of arrows on his back. He also had dark green pants, and blue shoes.

The crew stared at the man not believing there eye.

"It's cold today, isn't it?" the man suddenly said.

"Yeah it is pretty cold," Usopp agreed.

Suddenly the sea began to rise up and a bigger much rounder ship surfaced, it flew a pirates flag. The straw hats were quite shocked that a ship had rose out of the ocean and before they could react they had been boarded by the other ships crew.

The invading crew quickly surrounded everyone on deck and pointed their guns at them, daring them to move. They even got into the crow's nest. Evie glanced around making note of the numbers and the positions of everyone on board; Luffy and his crew didn't fight back. Sanji at that moment came out side on the deck and lit a cigarette.

"Hey what's going on here?" he questioned as men surrounded him to.

"Were being boarded," Luffy stated.

"Thought so but just thought I'd check,"

An overweight man with an unusual appearance stood on the railing of the Merry; he was likely the leader of these men.

He had dark violet hair and a cylinder-shaped jaw made up of tin plates. He was dressed in tin-plate armor and a hooded cape made from White Walkie skin. He also wore brown thick gloves, purple and orange woollen shorts and a brown belt around his waist and a pair of thick boots.

The captain was on the railing eating a chunk of meat off a knife.

"Hmm only six people, are you guys really pirates?" the man asked.

"Yup," Luffy answered.

"You're hardly a crew with that number. Well I guess it doesn't matter, we're tring to get to an Island called Drum. Do you have an Eternal Pose leading there?"

"Nope, can't help you sorry," Sanji lied.

"Pity but if you don't have it then there's nothing that can be done,"

"Do you mind we're in a hurry," Evie said politely.

"Oh sorry, I don't want to leave yet," the fat man said and finished eating his meat and the knife it was on "I'm still hungry so I'll be taking your treasure now,"

The man took a huge bite out of the Merry this surprised everyone and set Luffy off.

"Don't eat our ship," He cried and punched two of the men guarding him knocking them out.

The other men opened fire on Luffy but the Bullets just bounced off his rubber body. The rest of the crew sprang into action Zoro sliced the men in the crow's nest and jumped down to the deck; Sanji began kicking anyone close to him and scolded them for making so much noise while Nami was resting. Connor fought off a few men with his sword before he was joined by Zoro. Usopp screamed and hid.

Evie didn't bother drawing her weapons as she quickly and skilfully took down several men at once. She knocked the first one down before jumping on another and two more bringing them down at with a single sweep of her leg. Using the first downed man as a step she stepped on his back and countered a punch by a fourth man breaking the man's arm in several places and kicking him into the two men that were slowly getting back up; all three landed on the lower deck.

The man she stepped on tried to grab her from behind but she flipped him over her back and grabbed his foot, violently twisting it the snapping of bones was heard. Finally the fifth man charged at her, Evie skilfully got behind him and kicked him in the back of the knees forcing him to the ground, Evie grabbed his head and quickly snapped his neck. Evie ten leapt over the railing and landed behind the three men, quickly placing her hands on their heads the two men fell down dead.

It was at this point that Evie noticed that the fighting had stopped and two very long stretched arms went fling past her and hit the invading pirate captain in the chest sending him flying into the sky. The invading crew quickly abandoned the merry to chase after their captain.

"Lord Wapol!" the man who stood on the water cried out "Quick after him he's a hammer in water,"

The straw hats watched them go, ounce they were out of sight Evie began dumping the bodies of the men she killed in the sea. One of the men was still alive, it was the man with the broken arm; he backed away from Evie as she approached him and dragged him into the men's sleeping quarters looking the room from the inside.

"What is she doing in there?" Connor asked.

"Maybe she's taking a nap," Luffy suggested.

"I highly doubt it, I'm going to check on Nami," Sanji said and left. He was followed by Luffy and Connor.

Zoro and Usopp stared at the entrance to the men's quarters. They had both witnessed Evie fight and it scared them. If she could do that without weapons they dreaded to think what she could do with them.


	7. Drum Island Pt 2

_**A.N I own nothing.**_

 _ **Please Review**_

* * *

The Merry sailed down the coast of a winter Island, the Island had been spotted shortly after Luffy had defeated the invading pirates; it was ironic had they not stopped to attack the Merry they would have made it to their destination. Luffy had been very excited to land on an Island Covered in snow, Sanji reminded the captain that there was no time for an adventure but Luffy ignored him promising to teach Connor some fun things to do in the snow.

Sanji, Luffy and Vivi re-joined Zoro and Usopp on deck while Connor had gone into watch Nami. Evie had come out of the men's sleeping quarters and dumped the man she went in with into the ocean; she had a very serious look on her face. She refused to speak to anyone about what had happened in there.

As the Merry slowed to a stop at the end of the coast line Evie walked behind the cabin and disappeared. Suddenly the straw hats found themselves surrounded and guns pointed at them for the second time in the same day.

A man in a green snow suit stepped forward, clearly he was the leader.

"Pirates we demand that you leave our shores immediately," the man demanded.

"Please we need a doctor, our friend is very sick," Vivi tried to explain.

"Do you think we'll believe that?" a man in the crowd asked.

"They've only known us for ten seconds and they already hate us. That's a new record," Sanji joked.

Unfortunately the man took it as a threat and fired at Sanji, thankfully the bullet hit the deck. Sanji was about to attack when Vivi grabbed him, and held him back; a second bullet fired and this one hit Vivi. The straw hats watched in horror as she fell to the deck.

"VIVI!" Luffy screamed and charged at the armed forces.

But before he could attack Vivi grabbed him.

"Wait I'm fine, don't attack them," She begged.

"But Vivi…" Luffy stated but was interrupted.

"If you do what happens' to Nami,"

This stopped Luffy in his tracks, realising what Vivi was implying. Vivi turned to the armed mob and lowered her head to the deck.

"As you wish we will not dock here, we won't even leave the ship. But please we need a doctor right away," Vivi pleaded.

Luffy got on his hands and knees as well.

"Please help our friend you can have our weapons and anything you want just please save her," Luffy begged.

The armed mob had no idea what to do, they had never had pirates act this way before. After what seemed like hours the man in green made a decision.

"Bring your friend and follow me, I'll lead you to our village. Leave all weapons on your ship," the man ordered.

Luffy nodded and ordered Zoro to watch the ship, knowing his first mate would never part with his swords willingly; Sanji and Vivi decided that they would go with Nami; Zoro made Usopp go as well. Luffy then went to get Nami, he explained what was happening to Connor and the boy insisted he be part of the shore party.

Connor left his sword in the cabin and followed Luffy on deck; Evie had reappeared and decided to join the group going a shore. When they disembarked the man in green searched them all and when he was satisfied that they had no weapons on them he led them and the armed mob to his village.

During the walk back to the village a large bear passed by them and Usopp pretended to be dead, but it turned out that the bear was harmless and Usopp got embarrassed. Connor over heard a few men muttering silently about him being in a pirate crew and how they pitied him, but he ignored their comments.

When they reached the village named Big Horn Usopp and Luffy were excited about all the large hairy animals wondering around. The man in green dismissed the mob and while some were hesitant to leave him alone with the Pirates they eventually all left.

"They weren't you countries military?" Vivi asked in surprise.

"No they're civilian volunteers," the man in green answered "Come I'll take you to my house,"

He led them down the street into one of the smaller houses in the village. Once inside he offered the only bed to Nami which Sanji immediately placed her in and covered her with blankets. The house was a small two room unit, with one bed and a kitchen all in the same room a fresh fire was burning in the fire place keeping the place warm. The ceiling was a doomed hollow triangle shape and Connor could not help but be curious about why it was built that way.

"I'm sorry about the rough welcome," the man apologized.

"Its fine we're pirates after all," Sanji said accepting his apology.

"My name is Dalton and I'm in charge of the defences of this island," Dalton introduced.

"Nice to meet you, I don't mean to be rude but we really need that doctor," Vivi said "Our friend here has a temperature of 42° degrees(1),"

"What? 42° if it gets any higher she'll die,"

"Yes so as you can see we really need help,"

"Unfortunately it's not that simple, our Island has only one Doctor and she's a witch,"

"A Witch?" Sanji questioned.

"Yes, do you see those massive mountains out the window?"

Sanji turned to look out the window and found himself face to face with two giant snow men curtesy of Luffy and Usopp. One was poorly made while the other was dubbed Snow-zilla.

"How did they build them so fast?" Evie questioned.

Sanji ran outside and destroyed the snow men with a few kicks, he then dragged the two back inside.

"So what about those mountains?" He asked Dalton.

"Right…" Dalton was not sure how to react to his guests "those are called the Drum Rockies and at the top of the one in the centre is a castle, the witch lives there,"

"Why would she live up there? Surly as the only doctor on the Island she would need to be close to the village," Vivi pointed out.

"She comes down time to time to treat patients and give everyone some flu medicine. But she doesn't like to associate with people so she stays up there. We have no way to get in contact with her either," Dalton explained.

"So why don't we take Nami up there then," Usopp suggested.

"You'd have to climb a mountain to do that,"

"Surly there's an easier way, how would she get up and down then?" Connor asked.

"Well rumor has it that she flies, she has a sleigh and it's pulled by a flying creature in the moonlight. It's why she's called a witch," Dalton finished.

"Well guess we'll climb the mountain then," Luffy declared.

"Are you insane?" Sanji, Vivi and Usopp yelled together.

"What it's the fastest way to get her treatment," Luffy responded.

"You can't climb that mountain with Nami, you'll never make it," Vivi claimed.

"I can do it,"

"But Nami might not be able to take the stress,"

"It's the only way and I may be able to help," Evie interrupted.

Luffy and the others looked at the other female in the room.

"How?" Luffy asked.

"My coat is made out of special weather resistant material. Supposedly it can even keep its wearer warm in the most extreme blizzards and cool in the hottest desserts," Evie explained "If Nami were to wear it then the cold would not bother her,"

"Impossible no such material exists," Vivi argued back.

"Then I suppose the clothes I'm wearing are just a figment of your imagination then," Evie shot back "Luffy if Nami and I switch jackets then she'll make it up the mountain,"

"Hold on you had those types of clothes on all this time. Why did you borrow some winter clothes then?" Usopp asked.

"I didn't want to be rude. Besides it's only my coat that's made out of that material," Evie explained.

"Okay let's do it,"

Evie nodded and took off her coat and put Namis on, she handed her coat to Luffy who put it on Nami.

"I'll want this back by the way," Evie warned.

"You'll get it back as soon as we get back from seeing the doctor," Luffy promised.

"Oi Luffy, I'm coming too," Sanji said "If you're carrying Nami-swan then you'll need someone to fight for you,"

As soon as they were ready to go Dalton warned them about a herd of flesh eating rabbits that lived on the mountains but Luffy and Sanji reassured him that they would be fine and took off towards the mountain. Dalton offered his house as a shelter to the reaming four until Luffy got back but none of them were quite ready to go back inside so they all sat in the snow watching the horizon.

Connor noticed that all the houses in the village had the same tall cone shape and he suspected that they were hollow too.

"Dalton, do all the houses here have hollowed out ceilings?" Connor asked.

"Yes they do, all the houses share a similar design," Dalton answered.

"Why have hollow ceilings though?"

"In case of an avalanche. When one occurs this village gets buried in snow, the roofs are designed in a cone shape so the snow doesn't completely cover it, also the very tip opens up so people can take shelter in their homes and then climb out,"

"But wouldn't the top freeze over?"

"No, all of our roofs are made of stone and stone can remain warm for a long time. With the fires going in the house the roof stores the heat in and it's that heat that prevents the escape hatch from freezing over," Dalton explained.

"Do you get avalanches often?" Usopp asked.

"At least once or twice a year," Dalton answered.

After a while Usopp got bored of watching the horizon and roped Connor into helping him build a snow fort. Evie decided to take it a step further and give them advice on where to build the defences, while Vivi and Dalton watched from the sidelines.

Dalton told Vivi about how his country used to be renowned for its medical practices, until they were invaded by Pirates and their former king fled with all the doctors and scientists. Vivi was disgusted by the idea that a king would so readily abandon his country, but Dalton explained that the king leaving was the best thing that could have happened as he was a merciless dictator.

"All right I've done what I can, good luck Vivi," Evie interrupted.

"Excuse me?" Vivi asked.

"You've got to invade that fort; Usopp said that nothing could breach its walls. So go prove him wrong,"

"Why, it's just a snow fort. It's not even real,"

"It's still a pirate fort no matter how you look at it. So go take them down," Evie said and pushed Vivi towards the snow Fort.

"Why should I play this childish game?" Vivi asked when a snow ball hit her in the chest.

"Direct hit," Connor cried out cheerfully.

"Yup no outside force can stop us," Usopp boasted.

Vivi smirked; she bent down and scooped up some snow. She threw her own snow ball and hit Usopp square in the face, "you should surrender pirates, give up now and I'll show you mercy,"

"Never, open fire!" Usopp cried and he and Connor began launching snow balls at Vivi.

Dalton could not help but laugh he'd never seen pirates act this way before, he watched the fight until a stray snow ball hit him and he joined Vivis side. a few of the villagers heard the noise and came to investigate Evie waned them not to get too close to the snow ball fight unless they wanted to join in.

The fight was interrupted when a villager ran up to Dalton and got pelted with snowballs.

"Dalton terrible news, the witch she's at Gyasta Village" the man said

"What? She's not at her castle?" Dalton exclaimed.

"What about Luffy?" Usopp asked.

"It's too late to find them and bring them back. But if we can catch her before she leaves then we can explain the situation," Dalton suggested.

"But how do we get to Gyasta?"

"I'll prepare a sled and you can take it there,"

"Thank you," Vivi said.

Dalton left to prepare the sled, once it was ready Vivi and Usopp were given directions to Gyasta, as well as a map. The sled only sat two, so Connor and Evie were left behind with Dalton. Evie promised that she would look after the boy for them and if the witch passed by she would send her back to the castle.

Once Vivi and Usopp had gone Connor went back inside Daltons house and sat in front of the fire. Dalton made some coffee for himself and Evie while Connor got some hot chocolate; they were just starting to drink their hot drinks when an injured villager burst in.

"Dalton… terrible news…Wapol…"

Dalton shot up and immediately went to the injured man.

"Wapol? What about him?" Dalton asked urgently.

"He…he…he's back," the man claimed before passing out.

Evie watched Dalton's reaction closely, Dalton didn't say anything he put the injured man on his bed, grabbed his weapon and walked out of the house. Once he was gone Evie poked her head out and saw an ox running towards the coast, it was wearing Daltons green suit.

"What's going on?" Connor asked.

"Don't know, apparently someone called Wapol is back,"

"Wasn't that the name of the guy who attacked us this morning?"

"Yeah, it was," Evie said thoughtfully "But I wouldn't worry about it, finish your drink before it gets cold,"

Evie thought about what her brother had told her and wondered why the name Wapol was taboo. She thought back to this mornings' attack, the captain had been called Wapol but he was a pushover and his men were even weaker.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when the house suddenly started to shake. Evie ran to the window and took a look outside, her eyes widened in fear at what was heading towards the village.

"What's happening?" Connor asked panicking.

Evie quickly ran over to him and scooped him up, she ran and hid in the closest, as something heavy struck the house.

"Avalanche," Evie hissed and held Connor tightly.

The force of the avalanche caused the windows to break and Connor tensed up and held tightly to Evie. Minutes passed by and what seemed like hours of shaking and loud crashing noises finally died down and eventually the house calmed down.

"Has it stopped?" Connor asked.

"Well one of two things has happened, ether it's settled down and it's over or…" Evie answered.

"Or what?" Connor asked, he was afraid of the answer.

"Or we're buried underneath the snow," Evie said grimly.

* * *

 _ **(1) For those that use Fahrenheit, 42 degrees Celsius is the equivalent of around 104 Fahrenheit. I live in Australia so we use the Celsius system instead of Fahrenheit.**_


	8. Drum Island Pt 3

_**A.n I own nothing. This chapter is dedicated to those who lost there lives and homes in Cyclone Winston, hang in there guys.**_

 _ **Also as promised the second place winner of the Devil fruit comp will be featured in the up coming chapters. However i can't decide on who it should go too, so it's Poll time.**_

 _ **The fruit is the Ryu-Ryu Fruit: Model Western Dragon. This mythical Zoan type lets the user turn into a Western Dragon. In hybrid form the user grows a small amount of very tough scales that protect them and can breathe fire. In full animal mode the user can fly, breathe fire, covered in scales, strength.**_

 _ **Now keep in mind that dragons not only represent strength but wisdom too. So our candidates are:**_

 _ **Malik Al-Sayf AC1**_

 _ **Leonardo Da Vinchi from AC2**_

 _ **Adewale AC4: Black flag**_

 _ **For those of you who don't know who these charterers are, here's a brief rundown.**_

 _ **These three characters were the main support for the lead Assassin in the Ac games. there roles were to advise the player and keep the main Assassins in line.**_

 _ **Malik was stern and very by the book. After Altair got his brother killed and was responsible for the loss of Maliks right arm; Malik hated him. but over time he forgave Altair and after Altiar became the new Mentor for the brotherhood Malik was his right hand man, always there to remind him of the consiqense for breaking the creed.**_

 _ **Leonado Da Vinchi was the man who created Ezios weapons. He was a great inventor and later a double agent for the Roman Assassins. Leo was the one who discovered the vault under the Collesiam and is one of the few people who can use Pieces of Eden without any precursor DNA or negative side effects.**_

 _ **Adewale is a former slave turned pirate turned Assassin. Adewale was Edward Kennways first mate and loyal friend. He kept urging Edward to give up his search for the mythical observatory. Despite that when Edwards Crew did abandon there Captain Adewale did not. he joined the Assassins and later convinced Edward to join too. When Edward died Adewale became the captain of the Jackdraw and continued to protect the Caribbean in his friends stead.**_

 ** _Please send your vote in a review or a PM. As always please Review_**

* * *

A man trudged through the snow alone

He was a tall man with shaven side burns and a top hat to cover his short black hair. He wore a pale light green vest over a long sleeved white shirt, a red necktie that was tucked under the vest. A long black hooded trench coat that stopped just below the knees. His pants were brown and tucked into his black boots, they were held up by a red sash and a very fine looking belt around his waist.

Both hands had black gloves and on his right was a strange looking gauntlet. There was also a small revolver in a holster on the left side of his waist, on the right was a small pouch and a bladed Kukri was safely in its sheathe.

As he wandered through the snow towards Big Horn, he thought of his older sister. She was the only living relative he had left, he'd of course seen the Avalanche on his approach to the Island and despite the fact that he had complete faith in his sisters survival abilities he could not help but worry.

He approached the now buried village of Big Horn and got a good look at the damage. The entire village was buried; trees had been knocked down there was broken branches, a few good sized rocks all littered about. He spotted a small army of men in what looked to be some form of winter uniform come into the village, they took one look around before one of the men ordered the others to start the evacuation procedure.

The rest of the army was quick to obey and began clearing the snow around the small spiked tips that stuck out of the snow.

"What's going on here?" Wapol asked as he approached the man in charge. He was riding what looked like a large fur hippo.

"Sir, it seems an avalanche has hit this village, I gave orders to find the survivors," the man in charge responded.

"Hmm okay, I'm feeling a bit peckish so I'll help," Wapol said and dropped down from his ride.

The man in charge lead Wapol to the nearest spike and Walpol took a huge bite, the spike and the snow around it was instantly gone. Underneath the spike was a house and now that the snow and roof had been eaten the soldiers gathered round and lowered some rope down, a few minutes later a family of three climbed out.

The family however did not look grateful, in fact they were terrified. Wapol repeated eating the snow and creating holes in people's roofs so his army could rescue them, but none of them were grateful. Once everyone had been rescued the army lead the villagers away and Wapol continued to eat the snow and the houses.

"This is great, this village is delicious," Wapol claimed happily.

"Sir, shouldn't we get to the castle?" Chess asked.

"Of course, I can always finish here later," Wapol turned and addressed his men "Men after a year at sea we're finally home, and I can see my Castle again. Being a pirate was fun, but I'd much rather be a king, I will take Chess, Kurimario and mammoth squad with me, the rest of you will take these simple peasants back to our ship and lock them in the brig. I'll decide their fate later,"

Wahpol got back on his mount and headed off towards the Drum Rockies with Chess, Rook and a squad of soldiers, mean while the rest of the army forcefully escorted the villagers in the direction of their ship.

Once everyone had left the man in the top hat came out of hiding "Oh Evie, what have you gotten yourself into this time," he asked to himself.

* * *

 _Earlier just after the Avalanche,_

Evie wandered back into the main room, the house had stopped shaking and it was deathly quiet. She inspected the injured man on Daltons' bed and found him still alive; Connor ran over and looked out the window to find it was buried in snow.

"Are we completely trapped?" Connor asked Evie.

Evie looked at the ceiling suspiciously, surly theses villagers had a safety mechanism in place or an escape route for when avalanches hit and then she spotted something.

"There, on the ceiling," Evie pointed.

Connor looked up at where Evie was pointing and found a strange mechanism.

"You know Dalton told me that these houses were designed to withstand Avalanches," Connor remembered.

"Really? I wonder…" Evie trailed off, she went to the side of the room and quickly and skilfully climbed the wall all the way up to the mechanism.

Connor was stunned at her agility and strength, he considered himself a decent climber but even he couldn't do what Evie had done.

"Good news, it's an escape hatch," Evie called down.

Evie was about to open it when she stopped and her eyes turned gold. She put her ear against the top of the ceiling and listened to the vibrations, her eyes widened and returned to their normal colour; she instantly dropped back down to ground level. Back on the ground she quickly cleared away any evidence that she and Connor were in the house.

"Evie? What are you doing?" Connor asked.

"There are a lot of people up there," Evie answered.

"That's good right? They'll dig us out…Right?"

"Maybe, but my gut's telling me that we don't want to be found here. At least not by whoever's up there,"

Evie was not going to reveal her second sight to this boy, not only was he a pirate but if she did she feared she'd have to kill him.

"There was a cardboard box in the cupboard, go hide under it,"(1) Evie ordered.

"Seriously who hides under a cardboard box?"(1) Connor asked skeptically.

"Trust me when I say that the cardboard box is an invaluable tool. Your life can depend upon how you use it,"(1)

"You do know that no matter how it's used, a cardboard box is still only paper right?"(1)

"Just do it," Evie ordered.

Connor sighed and did what he was told he was starting to question Evie's sanity.

Once Connor was hidden Evie closed the cupboard door and vanished, suddenly a crash was herd from outside, it was followed by another and another; they sounded close. Then the entire top part of the roof was removed. Evie looked up and saw Wapol eating it before three ropes were lowered and three men descended down them, as soon as they were on the ground they drew their weapons.

"Clear," the first one said.

The three men began to search the house and one man opened the cupboard, he took one looked inside and found nothing unusual, his eyes passed over the card board box like it was part of the scenery.

"Nothing here," he said and shut the cupboard door.

Connor could not help but breathe a sigh of relief; maybe hiding under a box wasn't a bad idea at all.

"There's no one here but the man in the bed," one of the soldiers said.

"I agree, let's move on to the next house," said the first.

"But what about the injured man?" the third asked.

The first grabbed his rifle and took aim at the man lying on the bed.

 _BANG_

He shot him in the head.

"Problem solved, move out," he ordered.

The three men ascended up the ropes and when they reached the top they pulled them up.

Evie waited until she could no longer hear anything before she reappeared. When it was safe she knocked on the cupboard door and told Connor he could come out of hiding, she then went over and inspected the body.

The body still had some warmth in it but it was fading, it's eyes showed that the man had been scared when he died. Evie covered the body with blankets so Connor would not see it.

"How do we get out of here?" Connor asked, as he approached the bed.

"Well those men have kindly provided us with a nice big exit. It would be rude not to use it,"

"I heard a shot; you're not hurt are you?" Connor asked.

Evie shock her head "No that shot was not aimed at me,"

Connor glanced over at the now covered body on the bed and frowned.

"Oh, he's dead isn't he?"

"Yes I'm afraid so,"

"To bad he died in the bed, Blood stains are so hard to wash out," Connor claimed.

Evie could not help but gawk at the boys disrespect for the dead. Her mentor had always taught her to respect the dead; but then again this boy was a pirate so she supposed he'd gotten used to seeing dead bodies.

"Honey I'm hommmmeeee," a male's voice suddenly called out from above.

Both Connor and Evie looked up to find a man in a top hat crouching on the edge of the roof; he gave them a friendly wave.

Evie frowned, "Jacob," she said irritably.

Connor eyed the man suspiciously, Evie seemed to know him, but the irritation in her voice was all too clear.

"You know if you don't get this hole fixed, you'll get wet when it rains," Jacob joked.

Evie sighed and raised her left arm, aiming just below where Jacob was crouching. At the flick of her wrist a small grappling hook and zip line was released and embedded itself in the roofs edge.

Evie tugged the line a few times before she gestured to Connor to come over.

"Grab hold of me," Evie ordered.

Connor did so and when Evie was sure he had a firm grip she flicked her wrist again and the line retracted carrying her and Connor up to the roof; when they reached the roof Jacob helped them up.

"What are you doing here?" Evie hissed angrily.

"Hello to you too," Jacob responded in a light tone.

"I told you I didn't need help,"

"And when my dear Evie have I ever listened to you?"

"Ughhh, you're such a pain,"

"Right well whose this? Are you adopting because there are rules about that," Jacob asked jokingly and gestured to Connor.

"He's part of the pirate crew I'm traveling with,"

"Oh so you're a pirate are you? What about the other fellow in the bed?"

"Some villager, he got shot" Connor answered.

"I pity the person who has to wash those sheets. Bloodstains are so hard to wash out,"

"You know, I just said the same thing,"

Jacob blinked and burst out laughing "Oh I like this kid. Can we keep him?"

"No we can't. We need to help the other villagers," Evie said and pushed passed Jacob.

"Oh they're not here, those soldiers took them prisoner and escorted them back to some ship,"

"What? Why didn't you go after them?"

"You mean apart from the fact I was rescuing you?"

"Yes apart from that,"

"Their leader headed up to that Castle, I figure if we take him down then the soldiers will give up,"

"And you believe that the villagers will be fine until then?"

"What can I say, I'm an optimist,"

"Your annoying, come on lets go help those villagers,"

"And give the leader a chance to get away, I don't think so,"

"The villager's takes priority,"

"No we should go storm the castle,"

This augment went on for five minutes and Connor watched it go back and forth. Maybe this man was Evie's husband or lover; they certainly acted like they were married.

"Umm…why do you want to go to the castle so badly?" Connor asked.

"Because that's where the fight is going to be," Jacob responded.

"Well if you want to fight you're better off going after the villagers,"

"Why?"

"Luffy and Sanji should be at the castle by now so whoever's up there will be defeated long before you arrive,"

"Really? And just who is this Luffy and Sanji?"

"Luffy's the captain of the crew he's part of," Evie answered.

"Oh well I guess we'll just have to save the villagers then," Jacob sighed in defeat and disappointment.

Evie rolled her eyes and stormed off in the direction of the Merry, the foot prints left behind were a clear indication of where the army was headed. As the three walked through the snow Connor kept sending suspicious looks at Jacob, which he always returned with a smile.

"So how do you know this man, Evie?" Connor asked.

"Connor meet Jacob Frye, he's an ass and as much as I hate to admit it, he's my younger brother,"

"Younger brother?" Connor asked in surprise, it explained the fight they had.

"Only by one minute," Jacob pointed out.

Evie noticed Connors confused face.

"We're twins I'm the older one," she clarified "And oddly enough that one minute is the happiest time of my life,"

"Love you too sis," Jacob joked.

They continued on and Jacob was aware of Connors suspicion towards him. "So a pirate huh, what's that like?" Jacob asked trying to be friendly.

"It's not as great as you'd think," Connor answered honestly.

"So why don't you quit,"

"Can't,"

"What about your parents, what do they think of you being in a pirate crew,"

"I don't have any,"

"Okay…good talk," Jacob finished.

* * *

As they approached the harbor Jacob and Evie slowed to a crouch, they found a hill overlooking the ships. Connor spied the Merry and noticed that Zoro was not on deck, Evie and Jacob found the villagers being herded together.

"So I count at least 40 men," Jacob said softly.

"I agree and there's probably more on that ship," Evie responded.

"So twenty each and we have to do it quickly so they don't raise the alarm,"

"Are you scared dear brother?"

"Hardly," Jacob scoffed "It just doesn't seem like good odds,"

"Wait" Connor interrupted "Evie and I don't have any weapons,"

Jacob raised an eye brow at the boys' statement.

"Don't worry Connor I have them well hidden," Evie smirked. "And you won't be fighting,"

"But…"

"Aww that's cute, he thinks those men are a threat. But she's right, you just sit tight and watch the show; but be careful the first three rows are a splash zone,"(2) Jacob joked.

"What do you mean by that?" Connor asked slightly concerned.

Evie rolled her eyes and vanished from sight, surprising Connor; Jacob then got up and stealthily made his way down to the men. Connor activated his second sight and found that both Evie and Jacob were glowing yellow while the villagers were white.

"Evie can turn invisible?" Connor asked himself.

What happened next could only be describes as slaughter, Evie and Jacob began to take out soldiers patrolling the area by silently slitting their throats, then they moved onto the guards guarding the villagers. Jacob went up to one and snapped his neck, the others noticed but before they could do anything three guards suddenly turned on the rest and began firing their rifles.

Jacob used his fists to fight and took several men down before another tried to shoot him, but the man died by Evie's blade as she reappeared and joined in the fight. Connor was amazed at the way these two fought, they supported each other and knew exactly how and when they were moving; if one solider tried to sneak up on Evie, Jacob took him down before he could do anything and Evie responded in kind.

They were in complete sync with each other.

The battle ended quickly bodies littered the ground and there was blood everywhere. The villagers were terrified of the twins who had slaughtered 40 trained soldiers and hadn't even broken a sweat. Connor came down from where he'd watched the battle; he didn't know whether to be amazed or terrified of the twins.

"I thought you didn't like the odds of fighting them," Connor said to Jacob.

Jacob looked at the boy and smirked. "Oh I was talking about their odds of surviving and I was right. They didn't stand a chance,"

"So shall we move onto the ship?" Jacob asked, turning his attention to Evie.

"Yes, let's finish this quickly," Evie agreed and she headed off to the ship with Jacob.

Connor was left with the villages and quickly scanned them, his eyes widened in realization that Dalton wasn't among them.

Connor ran after Evie and Jacob "Wait," he called out to them.

The twins stopped and looked at him in as he approached them.

"You can't come with us," Evie said bluntly.

"Dalton's not with the villagers, he might be on the ship," Connor said.

"I'll keep an eye out for him," Evie reassured and the twins boarded the ship.

Connor watched them go hoping that Dalton would be alright, he was just thinking of heading over to the Merry to let Zoro know what was going on when a snow ball hit him in the head. Connor whirled around to find that a young girl had thrown it.

"Stupid pirate," she cried and threw another one "this is your fault,"

An adult came over to tell her to stop.

"Hey knock that off," Connor responded.

The little girl flinched in fear and Connor noticed that the villagers were staring at him with hate filled eyes. Connor backed down as he figured out what must be going through the villagers' heads.

"Get off our Island filthy pirate," a little boy yelled.

"It's your fault that we're in this situation,"

"Your kind should not exist, just hurry up and die,"

The adults tried to stop the kid's insults but Connor knew that they felt the same and were just too afraid to say anything; so he said nothing and let the village kids insult him. Suddenly one teenage boy ran over to Connor and grabbed him by his coat collar.

"You're the worst; you've ruined everyone's lives" he sneered "Why did you come here?"

The teen's father called him to come back but the teen ignored his father.

Connor sighed in irritation; unfortunately the teen took it as an insult.

"You think I'm scared of you? You think you're better than me?" he said angrily and shoved Connor to the ground.

Connor really wanted to beat the teen up, but he restrained himself.

"You go around killing and destroying lives like ours and for what? If you hadn't of come here then Wapol wouldn't have come back,"

Connor muttered something under his breath.

"What was that?"

"I said not true," Connor claimed.

The teen was stunned at what the younger was saying, but more afraid of his reaction.

"Eve if we hadn't come here, Wapol and his men would have done the same thing. If you seriously believe that Pirates are the source of all the misfortune in your life, then you know nothing of the real world," Connor said boldly.

The teen stared at Connor for a moment and then jumped on him; he started punching him in the face over and over. Connor didn't fight back, he just let the teen beat him up and even though it hurt he knew that this kid was just looking for someone to blame.

Suddenly the punches stopped, Connor saw Jacob standing above him; he held one of the teens arms back.

"That's enough, unless you wish to fight me," Jacob said in a deadly tone.

The teens face paled and he quickly ran back to his father in tears. Jacob helped Connor up and took a good look at the boys' bruised face.

"Well the bad news is your face is bruised, but the good news is that you can now pick up chicks. Girls love heroes," Jacob joked.

"I'm not a hero," Connor mumbled.

"Well not with that attitude,"

"You and Evie are the ones saving people, not me,"

"Yeah, but I don't want to be a hero,"

Connor stared at Jacob in disbelief, "Why not?"

"Let's say I save a group of criminals. A hero would turn them over to the Marines, where as I would make them my own men and start a street gang," Jacob said with a very serious look on his face.

Connor stared at Jacob, unsure whether to believe him or not.

* * *

(1) I've been wanting to put a Metal Gear reference in the story for a while.

(2) This is a quote from SAO: Abridged, episode 4 by something witty entertainment. If you haven't seen it check it out

Jacob is really hard to describe so I hope I got him right


	9. Drum Island Pt 4

_**A.n I own nothing.**_

 _ **The poll for the Ryu-Ryu no Mi is still open, our current standing is:**_

 _ **Votes for Malik - 1**_

 _ **Votes for Leonardo - 0**_

 _ **Votes for**_ _ **Adewale**_ _ **\- 1**_

 _ **For information on this poll please see the A.N section in Ch8;**_ _ **Send your vote in a P.M or Review.**_

 _ **As always please review.**_

* * *

Zoro was cold, no he was freezing. He'd been walking through the snow for the last couple of hours. Luffy had left him to guard the ship and he had been, but he got bored and decided to do some mental training by diving into the freezing cold ocean and taking a swim.

It had been a good idea in theory but as usual something went wrong and he had gotten lost, so he'd been wandering around with only his underwear on. He'd bumped into an old lady on a sled pulled by a reindeer and asked her for a ride; but she had declined saying "No shirt, No service," and left him there.

Zoro had herd the avalanche and ignored it. Finally after hours of walking he heard someone yelling, hoping to get directions and maybe some clothes he headed towards the voice. When he emerged from the trees he did not like what he saw.

Dead bodies littered the ground and blood stained snow was everywhere. There was a group of people that looked like they were from a nearby village and they were staring at a man in a top hat talking to a very familiar little boy.

Zoro recognised the boy as Connor and he did not like how close the man was to him, it was then that he noticed the bruises on the boy's face. Zoro's eyes narrowed in anger at the man, he instantly forgot the cold and marched over to the man.

Connor tilted his head and saw an almost naked Zoro coming his way, he quickly turned around. Jacob confused by the boys' action looked behind him and a very large grin appeared on his face.

"Is that a hidden blade in your pants? Or are you just happy to see me?" Jacob asked, trying very hard not to laugh.

Zoro was not amused, in fact that statement made him angrier.

"Say your prayers," Zoro threatened and cracked his knuckles.

Jacob looked up to the sky "It's not really my bed time and I don't want to bother the big guy during the day,"

"Well tough luck, I'm going to make you pay for what you've done," Zoro said dangerously.

"Oh are you part of that group?" Jacob said and gestured to the bodies in the snow "Because I think you might be out of a job,"

"I think he's angry about my bruised face," Connor interrupted.

"Oh that's a relief," Jacob sighed "I was really worried I'd got him fired or something. Well if you're looking for the culprit it's that teen over there,"

Jacob pointed to the still crying teen and Zoro followed his gaze.

"Seriously? You think I'm just going to believe that it was him and not you," Zoro accused.

"Yes well I already scared him and he may have wet himself so do go easy on him,"

Zoro eyed Jacob suspiciously and turned his attention too Connor; who had yet to turn around.

"Connor, tell me the truth. Who gave you those bruises?" Zoro ordered.

"That teen, he was blaming us for his misfortune. Jacob stopped him," Connor answered.

Zoro sighed, he knew Connor could not lie to him and he had ordered the boy to tell the truth, so it must be true the man in front of him was innocent. Zoro went over to the boys' father and gave him a lecture on bulling; when he was done he threatened the teen with disembowelment; just to scare him. Zoro also grabbed one of the coats off the dead soldiers and put it on before going back to Connor.

He introduced himself to Jacob and apologised for threatening him, Jacob brushed it off and told him what happened to the soldiers. Zoros face paled as he learnt that it was him and Evie that had done this, he feared what would have happened to Connor had he not come along.

"So why are you out here and not with Evie?" Zoro asked.

"Well I was with her but then we found this guy who was barely alive and the doctors on that ship weren't co-operating, so Evie threatened them and insulted their mothers before they agreed to treat the injured man,"

"Was it Dalton?" Connor asked.

"I think that was the name, yes," Jacob answered.

"I hope he's okay?"

"He'll be fine," Jacob reassured him.

* * *

As it turns out Dalton was fine because about 20 minutes later he and Evie emerged from the ship. Evie was supporting him as he limped down the gangplank, some of the villagers rushed to help him and Evie went over to her brother.

"He won't rest; he says he has to finish Wapol. He's as stubborn as you Jacob," Evie claimed.

Jacobs face lit up like he'd gotten his Christmas presents early.

"Wonderful, then I shall escort him to the castle," Jacob proclaimed.

Evie sighed and agreed to go with him.

"We should go too, so we can check on Nami," Connor suggested to Zoro.

"Why would Nami be at this castle?" Zoro asked.

"That's where the doctor lives, she's the only one on the Island," Connor explained.

"Right, better get going then," Zoro said and walked off in the direction of the Merry.

"Zoro," Connor called out to him "the castles that way," he said and pointed in the diction of the big Drum shaped mountains.

* * *

The entire village wanted to get rid of Wapol and quite a few of the village men volunteered to fight the former king. Dalton tried to object but the villagers were quite admit about coming and it was not like he could stop them. Jacob offered to kill Wapol for them but Dalton hoped that it was unnecessary.

The group made their way back to the out skirts of Big Horn and met up with Usopp and Vivi. Apparently the two had heard about the avalanche and had come straight back, when they arrived they couldn't find anybody and were worried. Evie introduced her brother and Jacob was not thrilled to be in the presence of pirates but he kept his opinions to himself.

Dalton led the group to a hidden rope way with a pedal powered gondolier attached to it. Apparently this was the quickest way up to the Castle.

"Why didn't you tell Luffy that this was here?" Vivi and Usopp yelled at him.

"Because I promised that I'd keep it a secret," Dalton claimed.

The villagers, Dalton, Jacob, Evie, Vivi Connor Usopp and Zoro all got in and Zoro made Usopp do the pedalling. On the way up Vivi noticed how exhausted Dalton was; it was clear that he was too injured to fight.

"What happened after we left?" Vivi asked him.

"Wapol happened, he killed all the men on watch," Dalton said angrily "One made it back to my house and told me he was back, so I went and challenged him,"

"Didn't quite work out did it?" Jacob commented lightly and Evie slapped him over the head.

Dalton sent the man a glare "No it didn't, I thought I could beat him with my devil fruit powers but…I was no match for him,"

"Hold on you've eaten a devil fruit, which one?" Jacob asked.

"The Ox-Ox no Mi Mode: Bison. Why do you ask, have you eaten one too?"

"Me no, but my sister has,"

Dalton addressed Evie "Then you should be careful that you don't become a devil yourself,"

"Too late for that," Jacob joked, Evie slapped him again.

'So that's how she kept disappearing from sight,' Zoro thought.

"Evie what's your fruit?" Connor asked curiously.

"I ate the Camo-Camo no Mi; it lets me blend perfectly in with my surroundings. Want to see,"

"Yeah," Connor said excitedly.

Evie put her hand on the wall of the gondolier and it disappeared. Everyone stared in awe.

"Can you turn invisible?" Zoro asked concerned.

"No that's a different fruit, I just blend in with my surroundings," Evie said. She moved her hand slowly through the air and everyone could see the texture change as she moved it. Evie then willed her hand to appear as normal and it did.

"That's pretty impressive," Dalton admitted.

"I can also hide objects that I touch," suddenly Evie's weapon arsenal came into view "like the weapons I've had on me this entire time," she claimed.

Dalton's eyes widened, he'd searched them when they came on the Island and hadn't found any weapons, but this woman had used her power to hide them and he hadn't noticed.

"You had weapons this whole time? What about your captains order not to bring them on the Island,"

"I'm not part of that crew, so I don't have to follow it," Evie claimed

"It's true we're just giving her a lift," Zoro confirmed.

"Weapons and devil fruits: never leave home without them," Jacob added.

Suddenly Dalton clutched his chest in pain; he bent over and coughed up blood. This frightened everyone and Vivi tried to persuade him not to fight Wapol. But Dalton refused to listen and pulled out some Dynamite.

"Listen everyone, when we get to the castle just leave me there and go back down the mountain," Dalton ordered.

"Dalton, what are you planning on doing?" a villager asked.

"I'll blow up the castle with Wapol and his men inside,"

"But Nami, Luffy and our third rate cook are in there!" Zoro yelled back.

"I'm sorry for your loss but I have no choice," Dalton said grimly.

Jacob clapped his hands slowly and everyone one in the gondola stared at him as he approached Dalton.

"Bravo my good man bravo," Jacob said.

"Are you mocking me?" Dalton growled.

"No, not at all. I think your plan is brilliant, sacrifice yourself so that others may live in freedom and peace. Go down in this Islands history as a martyr and a savior, it truly is a good plan. Except there's one thing wrong with it,"

"What's that?" Dalton asked.

Jacob suddenly punched Dalton in the gut and Dalton coughed once before falling unconscious.

"You'll sleep right through it," Jacob said dryly. He then took the dynamite and threw it out of the gondolier.

The villages stared at Jacob in shock, horror and disbelief. Their one chance at peace had just been knocked out and thrown out the window. Zoro eyed Jacob suspiciously, he didn't trust the man hell he didn't trust Evie; he noticed some unknown emotion in his eyes. It wasn't fear anger or hate, it was something else.

The villagers were about to start yelling at Jacob when a loud explosion was herd, and something fat and shiny flew passed them.

They reached the top of the mountain a few minutes later and the straw hats plus the Frye twins were the first ones out and ran to the castle. Suddenly something very loud was headed straight toward them and crashed into them, whatever it was caused Zoro, Usopp and Connor to be buried in snow.

"Oh it's you guys," Luffy said, he was wearing Evie's' coat.

"LUFFY WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?" Zoro yelled at him, coming out of the snow.

"WHY THE F*** ARE YOU WEARING MY SISTERS COAT?" Jacob demanded.

Connor and Usopp both unburied themselves to find Jacob threatening Luffy and demanding he give the coat back to Evie.

"Why are you yelling at me?" Luffy asked innocently "And who are you?"

"LISTEN YOU PIRATE SCUM YOU TELL ME WHY YOU'RE WEARING EVIE'S COAT RIGHT NOW AND I WON'T GUT YOU LIKE A FISH!," Jacob angrily demanded.

"Why? Because it's cold," Luffy pointed out.

Jacobs eye twitched at the answer, he was about to go through with his threat when Evie stopped him.

"Knock it off Jacob," Evie said.

"But sis…"

"I lent it to him," Evie claimed.

"Oh, really?"

"Yup," Luffy confirmed "I'll give it back just as soon as Nami's well,"

"Oh…um…sorry. Man I feel like such an ass now,"

"When are you not an ass?" Evie asked.

"Oi YOU BRATS," an old voice yelled.

They all looked over to see an old woman with long silver hair approach them.

She wore pants with a pink design on the left leg and a blazer with a yellow line along the shoulders, a white shirt with a pink cherry blossom on the front and green sleeves. She also wore sunglasses.

"If you've got injured bring them inside," she demanded and walked into the castle.

Zoro signed and went to get the unconscious Dalton. While Luffy excitedly told Usopp and Connor about the new Nakama he'd found, he pointed at a tiny reindeer with a pink top hat and blue nose, he was standing on his hind legs. The reindeer was watching them with a mix of fear and curiosity.

"AAHHHHH, MONSTER!" Usopp yelled.

This of course scared the Reindeer into running off and Luffy predicatively began chasing after it, demanding that he join his crew.

* * *

Connor followed Vivi into the Castle; they were both looking for Nami. Dr. Kureha had given them directions to the room she was in and when they got there Nami was sitting up in bed looking out the window.

The room had a lit fireplace, a small basin, a couple of couches and the walls were lined with bookshelves filled with various medical books. Nami smiled when she saw them.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Nami asked.

"Nami, you're okay," Vivi said happily and ran over.

"Yup, my fever is completely gone," Nami said reassuringly.

"That's a relief," Vivi claimed.

Nami noticed Connor was fidgeting behind Vivi.

"Hey Connor, you okay back there?" Nami asked concerned.

"Y…Y…Your…not going to die right?" Connor asked softly.

"Nope, at least not for a while," Nami said.

"Ca…Can I hug you?" he asked.

Nami was taken back in surprise; she thought Connor wouldn't want to be anywhere near her and after what he had told the crew of his past, let alone have any kind of physical interaction. Also the fact that it seemed the boy was very worried about her was touching.

"Sure come here," Nami said and opened her arms.

Connor instantly climbed on her bed and gave her a big hug.

"Don't ever get that sick again," Connor begged.

"Okay I won't, I promise," Nami agreed and gently stroked the boys head.

Zoro walked in and his jaw dropped at the scene, Nami sent him a look that said 'Don't you dare ruin this,'

Zoro smiled and sat in on of the couches 'maybe there's still hope for the kid,' he thought.

They sat there for a while until Usopp came in and after a quick hello to Nami he dragged Connor outside to play in the snow.

* * *

It was late that night and Jacob was wandering through the castle halls, he was looking for Evie. She had disappeared after dinner, during dinner Dr. Kureha had told the rest of the straw hats and the villages about Luffy's fight with Wapol; the straw hats were not surprised that Luffy won.

Jacob decided to cheek the room with the straw hats navigator and found Evie asleep on one of the couches. She was in a sitting position and Connor was lying on the rest of the couch, he was using Evie's leg as a pillow.

Jacob was quite shocked at the scene, not only was it adorable but his sister was sleeping peacefully. Jacob knew Evie never slept in places or in the presence of people she didn't trust, he was the same; and here she was sleeping in the presence of pirates.

'Just who is this crew?' Jacob wondered and put a couple more logs on the small fire. He then noticed that Dalton was also in the room but in a second bed. Dalton had been treated and moved into Namis room. Nami had tried to bribe Dr. Kureha out of paying for her treatment and being released early with a key she'd stolen from Wapol. But the old witch was very clear that Nami needed rest for two more days and took the key from her claiming it as payment.

Jacob lay down on the other couch but he didn't go to sleep, just because Evie trusted these pirates didn't mean he was going to.

* * *

The reindeer was sitting alone on the top of the castle; he was staring at the moon. He knew he should be resting but it had just been such a busy day that he could not sleep. Luffy had chased him around the castle all afternoon, demanding he join his crew and Sanji had wanted to cook him.

The reindeer looked over at the pirate flag blowing in the wind, it was a skull and cross bones with pink flower petals painted on it. It belonged to his adoptive father and the man who had inspired him to become a doctor. His father wasn't really a pirate but he did believe in the courage and the conviction that came with the flag; so he made his own to help realise his dream.

His father had believed that the country was sick and the people's hearts were infected by this sickness. His father claimed to have found a way to cure the country completely but had been murdered by Wapol before he'd had the chance to prove it.

The reindeer was brought out of his memories when he heard the sound of people walking in the snow; he peeked over the edge to see the pirate crew leaving the castle. He hadn't realised how much time had passed, it would be dawn in an hour or two, and then he realised that the pirates were leaving. He watched them enviously, the truth was he wanted to go with them, but he couldn't. Luffy was yelling for Chopper to come out of hiding, the reindeer climbed down and approached them.

"Give it up Luffy, we need to leave," Usopp said.

"No, we can't leave without him," Luffy claimed.

"If he doesn't want to be a pirate, then that's his decision,"

"But I want him to be one," Luffy argued back.

"Umm…excuse me," a small voice from behind the group said.

The pirates turned and saw the reindeer standing there.

"Chopper? What's he doing up at this hour?" Nami wondered.

"Hey I'm so glad you're coming with us," Luffy said happily.

"Actually I came to say good bye," Chopper said sadly.

"Why?"

"I'm grateful for your help today and I want to go with you, I really do but…" Chopper said hesitantly.

"Sure you can it'll be fun," Luffy encouraged.

"I CAN'T COME BECAUSE I'M A MONSTER. I HAVE ANTLERS, HOVES AND A BLUE NOSE," he yelled out "I can't join a crew of humans, so I'll stay here. But if you ever fell like coming back…"

"SHUT UP," Luffy yelled out "AND LET'S GOOOO!"

Chopper burst into tears and nodded in agreement, he ran back inside to find Dr. Kureha and tell her the good news.

"So yelling shut up at people is your recruitment speech is it?" Jacob asked, approaching the pirates with his sister by his side. Evie had her coat back on.

"What are you guys doing here?" Vivi asked.

"Your giving me a lift, remember?" Evie confirmed.

"Yeah but seeing as your brother is here, we thought that you would go with him," Usopp said.

"Oh I'm coming too, I'll just tie my smaller boat to yours," Jacob announced.

"You're coming too?" Nami asked.

"Yup, I'm not leaving you pirates alone with my sister. What kind of brother would I be if I did?"

"Well, I'm fine with it," Luffy said.

"Great, so let me just give you all this warning. If anyone touches my sister I'll break every bone in their body," Jacob said with a smile.

Sanji shivered at the threat, something told him that Jacob would do it too.

Just then Chopper came running out of the castle pulling a sleigh.

"Get on, quick," he cried urgently.

The group looked behind him and their faces turned too fright, behind Chopper was Dr. Kureha and she was throwing all kinds of sharp pointed weapons at Chopper. The straw hats didn't argue and jumped in the sleigh and Chopper ran down the ropeway.

* * *

Dr. Kureha had unfortunately woken everyone in the castle up, including Dalton; they had come to see what all the noise was about.

"One of my pets ran away," Dr. Kureha explained, she walked over to where a line of cannons were out in the snow.

The cannons were all aimed Skyward, Dr. Kureha ordered one of the villagers to fire the first four, he did as he was told and loud bangs sounded through the night. It woke the villages up and they all came out of their houses expecting a barrage of cannon balls.

"That should be enough to get everyone's attention," Dr. Kureha said "Now fire the rest,"

The villagers did what they were told.

* * *

Chopper, the Frye twins and the straw hat pirates were almost at the Merry when the first Cannon firing sound was herd. Chopper had stopped the sled and locked back at the castle, in concern; but then several more cannons could be herd firing and then the sound ceased.

"Should we go back," Usopp whispered to Zoro.

But before anyone could answer him a miracle happened, the night sky turned bright pink and the mountain that they had just left lit up, it was breathtakingly beautiful.

The straw hats were amazed and watched it for a few minutes, but Chopper broke down and cried in pure happiness. Evie caught some pink snow in her hand and it melted leaving behind trace of pink dirt.

When Chopper had stopped crying they continued onto the Merry, once they were on board and Jacobs boat had been securely attached they set sail. Sanji brought out various bottles of wine and some food claiming that it was the perfect atmosphere for a picnic.

As the Merry sailed away Chopper sat on the back railing watching the fake cherry blossoms bloom. He was joined by both Evie and Jacob.

"You know from this distance, it looks like a giant Sakura tree," Jacob pointed out.

"Your right, it does," Evie responded.

"You know what sis; I think that they're going to be just fine,"

"I think your right," Evie agreed "Sakura…it's a good name for a new kingdom,"

A few minutes later Chopper and the twins went to join the others in the picnic.

* * *

Back at the castle Dr. Kureha was watching the Merry sail away with her former assistant and pupil. Dalton approached her.

"So this was what he was trying to achieve," he stated.

"Yup, he finished it right before he died and left a sample of the formula with me," Dr. Kureha confirmed.

"How does it work?"

"Well without ruining the moment and getting technical. You shoot the pink dust into the atmosphere and it dyes the falling snow bright pink,"

Dalton nodded, with Wapol finally gone for good and the election of a new king a few days away it seemed like an appropriate time to use the dust.

"He knew you know, that the country was sick and this would cure it,"

"Dalton, Dalton," a villager called.

Dalton looked over to a villager who was running over to him.

"You need to get back to bed," the villager said.

Dalton nodded and went with the villager but he was stopped by Dr. Kureha.

"Dalton about my fee for your treatment. This kingdom needs a new name; if you become king I want you to change it,"

"To what?"

"I have some ideas, but I'll tell you if you win the election,"

Dalton nodded and went back inside; Dr. Kureha turned and looked at the old pirate flag on top of the castle. Chopper had hung it up there years ago as a memorial to his late father.

"Well he's gone and with the knowledge I've given him he should be all right. Are you happy now? You old Quack?" Dr. Kureha asked the flag.

The flag started fluttering in the wind, it was pointing in the direction of the merry.

Dr. Kureha smirked, "That's what I thought," she said and went back inside the castle.

* * *

 ** _The Camo-Camo friut placed third in the fan-made devil fruits competition, it was created by lionkingd15._**

 ** _This fruit was initially_** _going to be given to Arno, however after playing through Syndicate Evie's last unlock-able ability was to blend into her surroundings to avoid detection. So it was given to her instead, this fruit was the perfect match for her stealth and infiltration skills._


	10. Alabaster Pt 1

_**A.n I own nothing.**_

 _ **The poll for the Ryu-Ryu no Mi is still open and it will be closing in chapter 12. Our current standing is:**_

 _ **Votes for Malik - 3**_

 _ **Votes for Leonardo - 0**_

 _ **Votes for**_ _ **Adewale**_ _ **\- 4**_

 _ **For information on this poll please see the A.N section in Ch8;**_ _ **Send your vote in a P.M or Review.**_

 _ **As always please review.**_

* * *

Jacob didn't know what to think, traveling with the Straw Hats was interesting. The Merry had been at sea for three days now and would not arrive in Alabasta for another two. On the first day Jacob had been very cautious of the pirates, he found Luffys and Usopps antics disturbing. Nami and Vivi were always together, Zoro spent most of his time napping while Connor and Chopper were drawn into Luffys games.

At first he was just content to lean against the wall next to the kitchen door and keep watch, he positioned himself so he could grab anyone coming out of the kitchen. Jacob thought that the pirates were just trying to get him to lower his guard by acting like idiots. When Sanji came out with drinks for the ladies Jacob noticed that there were three, the third was offered to his sister while he flirted with them.

Jacob was very surprised when Evie not only took the drink and drank it, but she didn't punch Sanji for flirting with her. Evie hated that people treated her different simply because of her gender and some men saw her as an object not a person; of course those men often wound up in the emergency room fairly quickly.

"Want a taste? It's really good," Evie asked her brother and offered him her drink.

"How can you drink that? What if that pirate poisoned it?" Jacob scolded his sister.

"Of course it's poisoned, it's alcoholic," Evie joked.

Jacob glared at her.

Later Zoro and Connor trained together and Jacob was quite interested, he was impressed at the boys' skill but Connor was no match for Zoros strength. Every time Connor got knocked down he'd get back up again. Jacob noticed that he wasn't the only one interested in the duel, Vivi was watching as well and she didn't look happy.

"You don't like fighting miss?" Jacob asked the princess.

"No I don't," Vivi answered.

"I think it's good that he's learning how to defend himself,"

"I have no issue with that; with all the pirates around these days it's a good idea to learn some kind of self-defence,"

"So what's the problem?"

"The problem is Connor is thirteen and he's on a pirate ship, he shouldn't be here. If he wants to learn self-defence he should go to a dojo or something. Zoro is just too rough,"

Jacob nodded in agreement but remained silent. He had his own suspicions about the boy when he met him and Evie informed him about his pirate status, she had also explained the situation with Vivi. A 13-year old with no parents and probably no home would not be missed, an easy target for pirates.

Chopper had also expressed concerns over Connor sparing with Zoro and when it was over he yelled at Zoro for making the boy exhausted. Zoro brushed it off claiming that Connor had improved greatly and that their training time used to only last half as long. Connor also told chopper not to worry about it because he'd be fine.

That night Jacob didn't eat any dinner partly because Luffy stole it off his plate before he could eat it, but mostly because he still didn't trust Sanji's cooking. When it came to sleeping arrangements Nami had dragged Evie off to her room to sleep with the girls and Jacob was left with the boys.

"Nami don't invite strangers into our sleeping area, who knows what they'll do," Zoro objected.

"What's that Zoro? You've got the money to pay me back," Nami smiled evilly.

Zoro shut up after that and stormed off.

Jacob found himself stuck with the boys and because Usopp was on watch tonight he was able to use his hammock, Zoro had forfeited his hammock to Chopper and slept on the couch that was in the room.

Jacob didn't sleep; he was just lying there staring at the ceiling and listening to the snores and arguments.

'Who new people could argue in their sleep,' Jacob thought.

About half way through the night he heard someone moaning in their sleep, he looked over the sleeping crew and found that it was Connor; he was tossing violently in his sleep. After a few minutes the boy shot up breathing heavily and looking around the room in panic.

Once Connor realized where he was he got out of bed and silently left the room, Jacob watched him go and followed him. On deck he found Connor staring over the ocean, if the boy knew he was being watched he made no signs to show it. Jacob wasn't the only one who had heard Connor leave, Chopper had also woken up.

* * *

The next day was similar to the first except that Chopper confronted Connor about not getting enough sleep; Connor looked extremely uncomfortable when the new doctor asked if he needed sleeping pills. Luffy told Chopper not to bother the boy about it, but Chopper was not going to let the subject go without a good reason.

"You should tell him Luffy," Zoro suggested "he's part of the crew so he needs to know,"

Luffy looked at Connor for permission and Connor nodded. Luffy pulled Chopper into the kitchen and Sanji came out and closed the door, he had a faraway look on his face.

A few minutes later Luffy, Chopper and Vivi came out of the kitchen; both Vivi and Chopper had very disturbed looks on their faces. Vivi had been in the Kitchen when Luffy and Chopper had come in, Sanji had suggested that Luffy tell her as well; which he did.

Vivi immediately went up to Zoro and apologized for her behaviour towards him and Connors' training. Chopper however went over to Nami and requested that she buy some psychology books for him next time they docked.

The rest of the day past without incident and Evie urged Jacob to talk to the Straw Hats.

"Evie you and I have very good reasons not to trust them," Jacob argued.

"I know, but even you've got to admit that they're different from other pirates," Evie pointed out.

"Yes they are different and that could mean disaster,"

"You're overreacting as usual,"

"I'm being serious sis, what if this crew turns out to be the most wanted and dangerous crew in the world,"

"Look if you didn't want to travel with them you should not have come to Drum,"

"Evie I nearly lost you once, I do not want it to happen a second time,"

"Jacob that was years ago, I thought you were over that,"

"It was my fault Evie and you know it,"

"No it was that fat, obese bastards fault and you were just trying to protect me,"

"Look I just can't trust them and I never will,"

"You don't have to trust them, just give them a chance. Who knows the next time we'll have some time off,"

"You just like being waited on by that love sick cook,"

"Maybe a little, the rest aren't so bad ether,"

Jacob raised an eyebrow at that.

"Look at least thank Luffy for giving us a ride, without them I'd still be stuck on Little Garden,"

"Alright I'll thank him, but that's it. We're not friends after all," Jacob finished.

* * *

The next morning Luffy, Usopp, Connor and Chopper were fishing. Nami and Vivi were checking their current course, Sanji was in the kitchen and Zoro was napping. Jacob sighed and made his way over to Luffy and his fishing group.

"Hey, are they biting?" Jacob asked, attempting to be friendly.

"No, not yet," Luffy answered.

"Oh, that's a bummer. What are you hoping to catch?"

"Lunch," Chopper replied.

"Dinner," Connor answered.

"An offering to Sanji," Usopp said hopefully

"A sea king," Luffy claimed with a big smile.

Jacob blinked and looked at the four pirates, he took a deep breath; it was now or never.

"So Luffy…Thanks for giving my sister and I a lift,"

Luffy looked over at the younger twin.

"No problem, she's fun," he said with his trademark grin on.

Jacob blinked, and glanced over to where Evie was watching him. 'Are we talking about the same person?' Jacob wondered.

"Right… not that I'm ungrateful but why did you let us on board? I mean I could have taken Evie with me after drum,"

"Well I said I'd give her a ride and the more people on board the more adventures we'll have,"

"I don't think it works that way, Luffy," Usopp interrupted.

"It doesn't? Well it should. Hey Jacob are you a musician?"

"Umm…no," Jacob answered back, a little confused at the question.

"Pity, if you were I'd get you to join my crew,"

"Join your crew?"

"Yeah I asked Evie but she said no. I thought if you joined then she would too,"

Jacob was stunned; Evie had failed to mention that offer.

"As much I appreciate the offer, nether Evie nor I have any intention of becoming pirates. In fact we both despise them,"

"So did Nami," Connor added.

"Really?" Jacob looked over to where Nami was "what made her decide to join you then?"

"We saved her village from a freaky fish guy," Luffy claimed "then she decided that she liked us too much to leave,"

Usopp looked over to see Jacobs confused face.

"We beat up a Fishman named Arlong that was oppressing her Island," Usopp clarified.

"Arlong…that was you guys?" Jacob asked in surprise.

"Yep," Luffy suddenly felt his line tug "Hey a bite,"

Luffy pulled on his fishing rod trying to bring up whatever he'd caught. Usopp and Chopper cheered him on Luffy struggled to reel in his rod and eventually he was successful; his prize was a little disappointing.

Luffy had caught a tiny fish no bigger than a herring.

"Aww we can't eat this," Luffy moaned.

Jacob let out a small giggle.

"Maybe we could use it as bait," Connor suggested.

"I doubt any fish would even bother eating a tiny thing like this," Usopp pointed out.

Suddenly a large sea monster broke the surface and it's eyes were focused on the Merry, particularly the small fish that Luffy had caught. Jacob took two steps back and Zoro and Sanji rushed passed him. Usopp and Chopper began running around on deck screaming like scared children and Nami, Vivi and Evie came over to see what all the commotion was about.

"Oi Luffy nice catch," Sanji complemented his captain.

"Sanji can we eat this?" Luffy asked.

"Sure I think I can work with it,"

"Awesome, Gomu-Gomu Pistol," Luffy yelled. He stretchered his arm out to deliver a powerful punch to the monsters face.

Jacobs jaw dropped as Luffys arm stretched, "What the hell, Luffy has devils fruit powers,"

The monster was knocked down in one blow, Luffy then stretched onto the monsters body; careful not to touch the sea water. Once he was on the monster suddenly started to swim back and forth rapidly, Luffy managed to wrap his arm around the top fin and was pulled along with it.

"WAHHHHHHHH!" Luffy screamed, as he bounced off the water.

"Idiot," Zoro said "if we lose our dinner because of him, I'll be pissed,"

"HEY LUFFY, PLANT YOUR HEELS IN THE WATER!" Usopp yelled out.

Jacob just watched in amazement and was unsure whether to be concerned or not. Luffy a pirate captain and a Devil fruit user was water skiing of the back of a very large and dangerous sea monster.

Suddenly the monster batted Luffy back to the ship with its tail and Luffy crashed into Connor, the boy was sent flying over the opposite railing and splashed into the ocean.

Jacob, Evie, Vivi and the Straw Hats ran to the other railing and were relieved when the boy resurfaced. Suddenly Connor disappeared underwater he quickly resurfaced for a second before disappearing under the water again.

"What's going on? Where did he go?" Chopper asked in panic.

"Can he swim?" Jacob asked urgently.

"Yes, he hasn't eaten a devil fruit," Sanji responded.

"Then it's possible that the monster is pulling him under,"

Both Zoro and Sanji were immediately about to jump in the ocean after Connor, but stopped; a growing red patch appeared on the surface and something was floating to the surface.

Nami's eyes widened in panic "No," she gasped.

The monsters corpse floated to the surface, first the head and then the body. Connors head suddenly broke the surface and the boy took a deep breath of air.

Luffy stretched his arm down and grabbed the boys' jacket collar, pulling him back on the Merry. Chopper instantly went over and checked Connor for injuries.

"Nice catch kid," Zoro complemented.

"Thanks though next time I'd rather not be the bait," Connor joked.

"Oi Luffy, Moss head. Get that thing on board," Sanji ordered.

"Okay," Luffy said happily.

"Since when do you get to order me around, cook?" Zoro snapped back.

"If it concerns food my word is law," Sanji reminded him.

As the excitement was over the girls went back inside and left the boys to deal with the sea monsters remains.

Jacob stared at the dead sea monster, the head had been cut clean off. When the body was brought on board he felt the scales, they were extremely hard; this monster was one of the tougher varieties. How had a thirteen year old cut its head off in one blow?

Jacob looked over at the boy and noticed his blade, it was wet and had blood on it. Jacob wanted to get a better look at it.

* * *

That night when everyone was asleep Jacob snuck over too Connors hammock and lightly stole his sword, he went up on deck.

On deck he heard Zoro's snoring coming from the crow's nest, the swordsmen was on watch and he was not doing a good job. Jacob unsheathed the blade and gave it a few test swings. He examined the blades dull edge and traced his fingers along the hilt looking for anything that could help identify who made it. When he found the emblem he immediately drew his own Kuki, the emblems on both were a match.

"Crap," Jacob sighed "Looks like I may have to kill these pirates after all,"

* * *

On the third day Jacob pulled Evie aside and explained to her about the emblem on Connors sword.

"Maybe it's a replica," Evie reasoned.

Jacob shook his head "No it's not. The edges are deceptively dull and it has our logo on it,"

"A very good replica,"

"Evie it's one of ours. How many people do you know that can make swords like that?"

"Only one person alive can,"

"And he's safely back home,"

"It might not be made from the same material; I'll touch the blade to confirm it,"

"And if it is?"

"Maybe he has a good reason for having it, like an inheritance or something,"

"If he doesn't then…these pirates will never leave Alabasta alive," Jacob warned.

Jacob and Evie approached Connor who was fishing with Luffy, Usopp and Chopper.

"Hey Connor can we see your sword for a sec?" Evie asked.

Connor looked at the twins then at Luffy, the captain was just as confused as he was about the odd request.

"Sure," Connor said and unsheathed his blade, he handed it too Evie.

Evie took the short sword and examined it for a second, her keen eyes found the emblem. She took off her left hand glove and hesitantly touched the flat part of the blade; her finger barely touched it before she retracted it and touched it again.

Evie looked at Jacob and nodded in confirmation. She gave the sword back to Connor.

"Everything okay?" Usopp asked.

"Yes, just curious about where Connor got this sword. Did you inherit it?" Jacob asked.

"No Zoro gave it to me," Connor claimed and sheathed his sword.

Jacob and Evie thanked the boy and immediately went over to where Zoro was napping; the swordsman woke up as the twins approached.

"What do you two want?" Zoro yawned.

"That blade you gave to Connor, where'd you get it?" Jacob asked.

"From Nami, why?" Zoro asked in suspicion.

"A short sword that can cut the head off a sea monster like it was made of paper, I want one," Jacob claimed and the twins left to go talk to Nami.

Nami was in the kitchen writing in a journal, Vivi was reading the paper, looking for any news on Alabasta.

"Nami, can I ask you something?" Jacob said as he walked in.

"Where still two days from Alabasta," Nami claimed.

"No, not that. Where did you get Connors sword from?"

"Oh I stole it from a pirate called Buggy the Clown,"

This peaked Vivis interest and she looked up from her paper.

"Stole?" Evie asked.

"Yeah, when I met Luffy I was in the process of robbing Buggy. In the end I was successful and that sword was amongst the treasure pile," Nami explained "There were others, so I brought them to Zoro to look at being a swordsman and all; but they were mainly decorative. He asked me if he could give the blade to Connor, and I agreed,"

"Oh, do you know where Buggy got it?"

"Not a clue," Nami finished.

Jacob thanked Nami and left to talk to Evie in private.

"So they're all innocent then," Evie said "we can't harm any of them,"

"Well they are pirates, but in this case yes they are innocent," Jacob agreed.

"Why not let him keep the sword?"

Jacob looked at Evie in surprise "You can't be serious, what about the third tenant?"

"They don't know about us, the blades origin or the man who made it. So we're not really compromising the brotherhood,"

"And if we try to take it they'll ask questions," Jacob sighed.

"Questions that would compromise the brotherhood," Evie claimed.

* * *

Later on in the afternoon Zoro called Connor away from Luffy for a lesson.

"Aww can't he fish with us a bit longer?" Luffy complained.

"He's been with you three all day," Zoro pointed out "do I need to remind you what we're about to face in Alabasta,"

"Fine take him," Luffy grumbled.

Connor pulled in his line and left his rod leaning against the mast, he went off with Zoro for what was another exhausting training session. Jacob and Evie happened to walk by at that moment.

"Jacob, come join us," Luffy ordered and instantly brightened up.

The twins stopped walking and looked at the young Captain. After what happened yesterday there was no way he was going to fish with the crazy Captain.

"He'd be delighted," Evie answered for her brother.

"I what?" Jacob responded.

Evie gave him a warning look and Jacob new better than to argue with her so he picked up the rod and sat next to Luffy. They sat in silence with the sounds of swords hitting each other in the background.

"So Jacob can I ask you something?" Luffy wondered.

"Shoot," Jacob answered.

"When I asked Evie to join my crew, she said she was indebted to someone do you know anything about it?"

Jacob thought for a moment on how to answer, he knew all about it and he was indebted to the same person.

"Evie and I are indebted to the same man," Jacob claimed "He rescued us from…"

He paused and wondered why he was telling this to a pirate, but Luffy just stared at him waiting for him to continue.

"From some bad people and took us in. He rescued us in more ways than one and we wish to repay that kindness,"

"Were they pirates? Is that why you hate us?"

"No they weren't in fact they were worse than pirates. Evie and I have a different reason to hate pirates, though we don't hate your crew,"

"That's good. Once that debt is paid off you should join my crew, Evie can too," Luffy suggested.

"You're still on about that?"

"Luffy doesn't drop things like this," Usopp pointed out.

"Sorry but I have my own dream, I want to run a street gang," Jacob declared.

"That's sounds boring," Luffy stated.

"It won't be we'll have our own hide out, a hand in every activity legal or otherwise, an information network, contacts in the local Marines and our own mark,"

"So you do want to be a pirate,"

"It won't be a pirate crew,"

"Sounds like one,"

"Look pirates sail the seas, I have no interest in that,"

"So you'll take over an Island, then what?"

"What do you mean?"

"Won't taking over just one island be too small? What about other Islands? A gang has to have territory after all,"

"Umm…I guess,"

"What would you call yourself?"

"I've got a great name picked out. We'd be The Rooks,"

"Awesome, so you are a pirate then,"

"No I'm not,"

"But from the way you described it. It sounds like a street gang is a pirate crew on land,"

"Huh…I never thought of it that way,"

* * *

That night Jacob woke up and found himself in the men's quarters alone, the room itself was bare and his head hurt.

"Did someone get that ships name?" he asked, but got no response.

Jacob looked around the room and it was the men's sleeping quarters, only he was the only one in it.

"Luffy? Evie?" Jacob called but got no response.

Jacob went over to the exit hatch and found that it was locked, he reached for his Kuki and found it missing; in fact all of his weapons were missing; except his hidden blade. He banged on the latch but it didn't open.

"Dam it, where's Evie? Why am I locked in?" Jacob asked himself.

He paced around the room trying to think of a way out, suddenly the latch opened and the Straw Hats walked in.

"Why have you locked me in? Where's my sister?" Jacob demanded.

Luffy smirked and threw a female at his feet, it was Evie. Evie was bruised, her clothes were gone and had cuts all over her body.

"Evie!" Jacob cried and was knelling next to her in a second.

"J…A…C…O…B…" Evie said weakly and she went still.

Jacob felt for a pulse and found none, "NO, NO, NO EVIE! STAY WITH ME!"

Evie did not wake up.

Jacob looked at the crew who had killed his sister.

"Why," he hissed "Why her? What did she ever do to you?"

"We're pirates, do we need a reason to murder people?" Zoro asked.

"She was very hard to break, she kept screaming your name, hoping you'd save her," Usopp laughed.

"Jacob, Jacob please help me," Nami mocked.

"I tortured her for a bit and had my way with her once she gave up on you rescuing her," Sanji said.

Jacob clutched his sisters' dead body tightly, how dare they mock the dead. How dare they do that to his sister? The Straw Hats continued to mock him and Chopper came down.

"I'm ready for my next patient now," the reindeer grinned evilly.

Suddenly a shadowy hand gripped Jacobs shoulder, reacting on instinct he grabbed his assailants arm and flipped him over. The shadowy figure landed on its back, Jacob rushed over to it and began punching it in the face. The shadow was struggling to escape Jacob drew his fist back and flicked his wrist, his hidden blade activated and he plunged it into the shadowy figures stomach.

"Jacob?" a familiar voice said from behind him.

Jacob whirled around and saw Evie staring at him in shock.

"Evie? You're alive?"

"Jacob what have you done?" Evie whispered, staring at the shadowy figure.

Jacob followed her gaze and looked back at the shadowy figure and the shadows faded away to reveal Connor. He was clutching his stomach as blood poured out of the wound.

Jacob looked at his wrist and fond his hidden blade was out and it was covered in blood.

"Oh s***," he swore.


	11. Alabaster Pt 2

_**A.n I own nothing.**_

 _ **Last chance to vote on who gets the Ryu-Ryu Fruit, the poll closes next chapter. Our current standing is:**_

 _ **Votes for Malik - 4**_

 _ **Votes for Leonardo - 0**_

 _ **Votes for Adewale - 5**_

 _ **For information on this poll please see the A.N section in Ch8; Send your vote in a P.M or Review.**_

 _ **As always please review.**_

* * *

The next few hours passed in a blur. Evie had acted as soon as she had seen the stab wound, she tried to stop the bleeding by applying pressure with a nearby blanket. The other Straw Hats were alerted and Chopper quickly got too work.

The Straw hats were beyond furious with Jacob; he was in shock from what he'd done. All but Chopper were quite prepared to kill the man and Evie was ready to defend her brother if necessary as he was in no condition to defend himself. However before they could do anything Vivi got in between the angry crew and the Frye twins

"Stop" Vivi demanded, throwing her arms out wide blocking the crew.

"Out of the way Vivi. He needs to pay," Luffy ordered angrily.

"No, I won't move,"

"If you don't we'll go through you," Zoro threatened.

Viv froze in fear, would they really attack her? If she moved what would happen to Jacob and Evie? Why did everyone always resort to violence? Evie stared at the dessert princess in admiration; she was willing to put her life at risk to defend them. Evie new she could take down this crew easily, but she was more concerned with her brother and Evie really had no desire to fight the Straw Hats.

Vivi lowered her arms and walked up to Luffy and did something no one expected; she punched him hard in the face. Luffy was knocked down and everyone stared at the now pissed off princess.

"HOW IS THIS HELPING?!" She yelled at Luffy and the crew "HOW WILL HURTING THEM HELP CONNOR? RIGHT NOW HE'S BLEEDING OUT AND YOU'RE ALL PICKING A FIGHT!"

"But Vivi they…" Luffy started.

"I DON'T CARE! WHY AREN'T YOU HELPING CHOPPER? WHY AREN'T YOU BY CONNORS SIDE WHERE HE NEEDS YOU? WHY ARE YOU ALL SO USELESS?"

This snapped the Straw Hats out of their rage and surprisingly it was Zoro who answered her.

"Because this is all we can do," Zoro claimed.

"Viv-chan if it was anyone else…Connor would do the same," Sanji added.

They migrated onto the deck to wait for Chopper to give them the verdict. Jacob sat against the mast, his head was in his knees and he was muttering something about breaking the first tenant. Evie was trying to comfort him.

Chopper had temporary taken over Nami's room and the rest of the crew waited patiently outside for the doctor to emerge. Usopp and Luffy were in a panic, Sanji and Zoro kept glaring at the Frye twins hatefully, Nami and Vivi were just starring at the door in silence.

After an hour Chopper came out of Nami's room and the straw hats gathered round to hear the verdict.

"He's alive, for now. He has a deep stomach wound and lost a lot of blood. If Connor can survive the next twelve hours then he'll recover," Chopper explained.

"Can we see him?" Usopp asked.

Chopper shook his head "No he needs all of his energy right now,"

"What if we promise not to make a sound and just sit with him," Vivi suggested.

"I'm sorry but I can't allow any visitors right now, it really is for Connor's own good,"

The straw hats looked down sadly.

Zoro went over to the Frye twins, Evie steeped proactively in front of her bother.

"If Connor dies, so does your brother," Zoro warned and walked off before either twin could respond.

The Straw Hats continued their daily routines, except there was no energy in any of them. It was very strange seeing Luffy not hyperactive and bouncing around with Usopp. Zoro didn't nap all day, Sanji not once served the girls drinks or cakes; in fact he didn't even flirt with them.

Jacob had been locked in the men's sleeping quarters and Evie had joined him. She was very insistent that if her brother was to be locked up then so was she.

* * *

Around mid-afternoon Chopper came out with some interesting news, he called the Straw Hats into the cabin and showed them his discovery. Connor was lying on his back unconscious and barely breathing. His shirt and jacket had been removed and he was covered by blankets; his bare arms were on top of the covers. His brand could be seen but it was different; it had dark blue vein lines coming out of it and it was glowing slightly.

"Is it always like this?" Chopper asked, indicating to the glowing brand.

The Straw Hats were stumped, they had all seen the brand but it was never like this.

"No it's not," Usopp answered "when he first showed it to us it looked like an ordinary patch of burnt skin,"

Chopper nodded in understanding, he hadn't seen the brand before so he was unsure if this was normal.

"How long has it been like that?" Sanji asked.

"I don't know, I didn't really pay any attention to his shoulder when I was treating his stomach," Chopper admitted.

Luffy stared at the boy in silence for a few minutes, he then took his hat off and placed it on the bedside table next to the bed; Luffy turned and left with a serious expression on his face.

Zoro watched him go; the swordsman took one last look at Connor before he too left the room.

Chopper then requested that everyone leave as well.

On deck Luffy marched over to the men's quarters and went inside. Jacob was leaning against the hull of the ship and Evie sat with her arm around her brother. Evie looked up as Luffy approached, it was clear that he wanted answers.

"Why? Why did you do it," Luffy asked Jacob in a low voice.

"Don't come near us Luffy," Evie warned.

"I wasn't talking to you," Luffy snapped dangerously. Evie flinched and stepped back.

"Evie it's alright," Jacob said and looked up at luffy.

Luffy could see the regret in his eyes as well as shame.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to harm him," Jacob claimed.

"But you did,"

"Yes I did and I will accept any punishment you deem necessary. Even if it means my own life,"

Luffy blinked at the younger twin, he was not expecting this. Jacob had not made any excuses and was putting himself at the Straw Hats mercy.

"You still haven't answered my question," Luffy pointed out.

"I…I thought he was someone else," Jacob claimed.

"Someone else?"

"Yes, you see many years ago I nearly got Evie killed. I upset a very powerful man and Evie paid the price," Jacob explained "Every time I go to sleep I see that man with my sister's dead body. But this time it was your crew that had killed her,"

"So you had a nightmare?"

"Yes, in the nightmare the man is always represented by a shadowy figure,"

"Jacob and I never sleep in a new place or with people we don't trust," Evie explained "but even we have our limits. It's likely that Jacob hasn't slept since before coming to Drum,"

"I see. So you had a nightmare and attacked this man in your sleep. But you were really fighting Connor,"

Jacob nodded.

"Zoros already made it clear that my brothers' fate is tied to Connor's," Evie claimed.

Luffy nodded in agreement, "Connor is the one who got hurt so he'll decide your fate. But if he dies Zoro's threat holds,"

Luffy left the twins and went back on deck. He noticed that the rest of the crew were waiting for him and told them what Jacob had said.

* * *

Later in the afternoon Luffy and Usopp were fishing, Sanji had noticed a large smoke cloud coming out from the ocean. He had alerted Nami to it but the Navigator assured the crew that it was from an underwater volcano and not harmful in any way. Chopper suddenly burst out of the cabin in panic.

"Everyone you won't believe this," the doctor cried out.

Everyone on deck turned their attention to the doctor, fearing the worst about their youngest member.

"Connor's wound has healed,"

The Straw Hats stared at the young doctor in shock.

"He's completely healed? That's impossible," Vivi stated.

"Well he's still asleep and it's not completely healed," Chopper clarified.

"Then what has happened," Nami asked.

"Well I went to change his bandages and when I removed them the bleeding had stopped,"

"That's good right?" Luffy interrupted.

"Generally for an injury like this it means it's infected, but there's no infection. So I did a quick test and found that his stomach has healed,"

"The blade pierced his stomach right? That's where all the blood came from," Zoro added.

Chopper nodded in confirmation "Right and now there is no damage to the internal parts of the stomach. It's like it never happened,"

"Hey do you guy's remember the injury that Kuro gave him," Nami asked the crew.

"Yeah that was nasty," Usopp shuddered at the memory "and that was before he got shot,"

"Kuro?" Chopper asked.

"Kuro was a pirate we fought in the east blue. He slashed Connor's back open and his first mate shot him twice," Luffy explained.

"I don't remember that," Sanji said.

"It was before we met you,"

Sanji nodded in understanding.

"Right and do you remember how he was unconscious for three days? But after that there was no sign of his injuries,"

"Wait you don't mean…"

"I do. Connor told us that his brand nullifies anything that prevents him from fulfilling his orders. I'd say a near fatal stab wound counts, his brand is healing him," Nami concluded.

"How is that possible?" Chopper asked.

"I thought Luffy told you about his brand," Usopp added.

"He did, but he failed to mention the healing factor," Chopper claimed.

"To be honest none of us really believed that the brand could heal him," Sanji admitted.

"What did he tell you and Vivi?" Zoro asked.

"Only that Connor was enslaved at the age of four, he has a brand that marks him as a slave and that he was part of an abusive pirate crew before he met all of you," Vivi explained.

"Ah, you guys got the nice version," Nami sighed.

"There's a different version?"

"Yes but I wouldn't worry about it," Nami said "unless you want to pay me 500,000 bellis for the information,"

"So is Connor going to be okay?" Luffy asked Chopper.

"If what you say is true then… I reckon that he'll be fully healed by tomorrow. So I suppose he can have visitors,"

"ALL RIGHT," Luffy yield out happily.

"If you promise to be quiet and not disturb him. He still needs rest after all," Chopper said firmly.

* * *

Sanji was sitting by Namis bed, he had decided to come down and sit with Connor because Luffy was being a loud idiot again.

Ever since Chopper had told them that Connor would be up and about Luffy had reverted to his hyperactive self. Sanji had taken a good long look at the glowing brand on the boys shoulder; he really hated it and what it did to Connor. But Sanji had to admit that if it weren't for the brand Connor would have died years ago.

Sanji could hear Luffy, Usopp and Chopper making loud noises on deck; he suspected that they were up to no good.

"Seriously what part of "Connor needs rest" do they not understand," Sanji muttered.

Though he had to admit, it was a relief to see Luffy and the others in good spirts.

Vivi came down and approached Sanji.

"Any change?" the princess asked.

"None, I doubt he'll wake up before tonight," Sanji answered.

Vivi nodded and knelled down next to the bed.

"What's going on deck?" Sanji asked.

"Luffy fished up some strange man dressed as a ballerina; apparently he ate a devils fruit that lets him copy the appearances of others,"

"So he's entertaining them then,"

"I guess," Vivi said sadly.

"What's wrong?"

"One of the faces that he copied was my father,"

"Oh, that's not good. Not good at all,"

"I know. I don't think just coming home alive will be enough anymore,"

"Hey cheer up; we're already in Alabastas' climate zone,"

Vivi nodded and the two sat in silence.

* * *

That night Connor woke up. He was groggy and didn't recognize the room at first, until a sharp pain from his stomach snapped him awake. Connor wrapped his arms around his stomach and winced in pain. He noticed that his shit and jacket was gone, he would have panicked but the bandages on his stomach told him that Chopper had most likely removed them to treat his injuries.

Then it all came back to him, Jacob had stabbed him with a blade that came out of his wrist. Connor took a look at his brand and noted that it wasn't glowing, but the blue veins were still coming out of it.

"Guess I don't need the healing coma anymore," he said to himself.

Connors eyes shifted to something bright yellow on the table next to the bed; it was Luffys hat. Connor reached for it, but hesitated just before he touched it.

'No, I have no right to touch it,' he thought and pulled his arm back. Though it was comforting to know that Luffy had been in here.

He wondered where the rest of the crew were; suddenly he heard the cabin door open. Connor quickly pulled the covers up to his shoulders and over his brand, he did not like it displayed. It was a good thing he did because Jacob and Evie walked in. The twins stopped and stared at Connor, they weren't expecting him to be awake, let alone sitting up.

Evie pushed Jacob forward, and the two approached him, Jacob pulled up the desk chair and Evie sat on the end of the bed.

"Hi Evie, Hi Jacob what are you guys doing down here?" Connor asked happily.

The twins looked at each other, confused at the boys' cheerfulness.

"We came to see you, how are you felling?" Evie said gently.

"Oh I'm good, in a bit of pain but that'll pass soon enough. Do you know where the others are?"

"There sleeping on the deck, it's around eleven at night," Evie answered.

Connor nodded "I'm surprised there not sleeping in here,"

"They wanted too but Chopper was against it,"

"Umm…not that I'm not happy that you're alive, up and talking…but how are you…alive, up and talking?" Jacob asked.

"I heal very quickly, besides I've had worse injuries than a knife in the gut,"

"Wait worse?"

Connor nodded "There was the time some old guy broke both my arms and legs, the time I got shot in the chest around here," Connor said and pointed to where his lungs were "And recently a pirate tore my back open with his cat like claws,"

Both Jacob and Evie stared at the boy in shock. How had he survived being shot in the lungs?

"Listen about stabbing you…I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to," Jacob apologized "I've told Luffy this, but I'll accept any punishment you or the crew want to give me,"

"Hmmm," Connor thought about what Jacob was offering. Whenever he got hurt or injured no one ever apologized to him or offered to take responsibility.

"You'd do anything I ask," Connor confirmed.

"Yes," Jacob said seriously.

"Okay I've got two things in mind. The first is Evie was teaching me a move to counter opponents, I want to learn how to do it properly,"

Jacob looked at his sister for an explanation.

"It was a basic counter move; I spent a good hour or two trying to teach it to him. He never got it right," Evie claimed.

Jacob nodded; he knew the one she meant.

"I guess I can help you with that. What's the other thing?"

"You two are really good at fighting right and what I'm about to ask won't be easy. In fact it will be downright dangerous, possibly even suicidal,"

"Ohhh now were talking," Jacob joked.

Evie rolled her eyes and Connor explained what he wanted them to do. When he was done the twins left the boy to rest, they headed back onto the deck. Carefully stepping over the sleeping pirate crew, they stealthy made their way to the men's quarters.

"Well that could have gone worse," Jacob said to Evie.

"Yes it could have, his requests were simple."

"He had my hopes up when he said the second one would be dangerous, but even that one is simple enough in itself,"

"Don't get cocky dear brother," Evie warned. "Should we repot in?"

"Nah, there's no need to wake anyone. After all we'll be in Nanohana tomorrow, so we can repot in first thing," Jacob reasoned.

* * *

The next morning when Usopp woke up he noticed that the hatch to the men's quarters was wide open. He looked at it for a second and looked around; the rest of the crew was still asleep on deck. 'Probably just Jacob, must've got up before us,' he thought and lay back down.

Then it hit him, he stood up and peered into the men's' sleeping quarters; it was empty. Jacob was up and about and that could mean… suddenly he heard a thump coming from Nami's room. He panicked.

"Guys wake up we've got trouble," he urged and began to shake his crew mates awake.

"What is it?" Sanji mumbled.

"Jacob has escaped," Usopp panicked.

This got the entire crews attention. Luffy Zoro and Sanji dashed too into Nami's cabin. Inside they found Connor who was wearing his clothes again sitting on the floor with Jacob standing over him, knife in hand. Evie was off to the side watching.

"Perfect timing," Jacob smirked, when he spotted them.

Connor looked behind him and realized what was about to happen "No wait," he tried but it was too late.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Sanji yelled.

He jumped in front of Connor and tried to kick Jacob in the head but Jacob grabbed Sanji's leg and twisted into Sanji, using his body as the center of gravity he pulled Sanji down and threw him on the floor.

Luffy ran up and charged at Jacob with an out stretch fist, Jacob grabbed the rubber arm and did the same maneuver, this time sending Luffy crashing into the cabin wall, he landed on the bed.

Jacob turned expecting Zoro to attack next but he came face to face with a very pissed off swordsman, two blades were already crossed right in front of his throat. Jacob slowly raised his arms in surrender and dropped the knife.

Luffy and Sanji both got up, Sanji picked up the knife off the ground. All three were glaring at Jacob. The rest of the crew came in.

"Idiot, you could have stopped him," Evie said.

"I'd like to see you do better when you have two very sharp blades inches from your throat," Jacob shot back.

"Kid you okay?" Zoro asked and eyes shifted to look over the boy.

The lack of attention was all Jacob needed, in one swift movement he'd drawn his Kuki and separated the two blades. Zoro was not expecting the attack and was thrown off balance. Jacob swung his Kuki and disarmed Zoro; one blade went flying upwards and got stuck in the ceiling and the other skidded across the floor. Jacob tackled Zoro to the ground and held his Kuki at the pirate's throat.

Zoro was terrified, he hadn't seen Jacob move and he was on his back with a jagged blade poised to slit his throat. He could see Luffy and Sanji stare at him in shock, no one moved in fear of Zoros life. Zoro stared into Jacobs eyes and found that they were cold and calculating. He waited for the man to end his life but Jacob did something no one expected. He removed his blade and got off Zoro.

He then turned his attention to Connor.

"Did you see that? That is how you perform a perfect counter," Jacob said in his cheery voice.

No one moved encase Jacob decided to finish the job.

"Hey, why didn't you kill me?" Zoro demanded and slowly got to his feet.

Jacob looked at him with a raised eyebrow "That would defeat the purpose of a demonstration wouldn't it?"

"Demonstration? What demonstration?" Sanji asked.

"Why on how to perform a counter move of course. You three were really into it; I never had any intention on actually killing you,"

"I don't get it what's going on?" Luffy asked.

Evie sighed "We came down here last night after you lot went to sleep, we wanted to see Connor. He was already awake and we told him that Jacob would accept any punishment that Connor deemed necessary,"

"That's right," Connor confirmed "I really wanted to learn that counter move that Evie was teaching me. Jacob agreed to help me learn it,"

"So they weren't trying to hurt you?"

"Of course not, we started an hour ago, everyone was still asleep so we practiced in here," Evie claimed.

"But there's only so much you can learn without seeing it in action. I was just thinking about waking one of you to help with a demonstration when you all charged in," Jacob finished "Really you lot have perfect timing, although Zoro looking away was a pretty stupid mistake; if we'd been fighting for real he'd be dead right now,"

"But I heard a thump," Usopp claimed.

"I've being tiring the move out and tripped, in fact I've been tripping all morning," Connor admitted shamefully.

"It's not the easiest move to learn, it took Evie and me four months to get it right," Jacob reassured "it just takes practice,"

"Why are you practicing fighting moves when you're injured?" Vivi demanded. "and with the man that injured you?"

"I'm not injured anymore," Connor stated. "Besides Jacob already apologized and I already forgave him,"

"He did? And you're okay with it," Luffy asked.

"Yeah, it's not like he did any permanent damage,"

"Alright then, Sanji food," Luffy demanded.

"Hold on are we just going to let him get away with this?" Chopper asked concerned.

"Of course not, Jacob has to make it up to him and if teaching Connor a new combat move is what he wants then that's what Jacob has to do,"

"What's done is done, I'll go make some breakfast," Sanji said and walked out of the room.

"Connor let Chopper give you a check-up before you start training again okay," Luffy ordered.

Connor nodded.

"Well let's pick this up after breakfast, I don't know about you but taking down pirates makes me hungry," Jacob joked. Evie sighed and pushed her brother aside. "Plus Sanji still has my knife


	12. Alabaster Pt 3

_**A.N I Own Nothing.**_

 _ **First off Happy Easter everyone, I know some of you don't celebrate this particular holiday. But who don't like eating Chocolate eggs and Bunnies?**_

 _ **Second; The Ryu-Ryu Fruit poll is now closed and the results are: Malik=5 votes. Leonado=0 votes. Adewale=5 votes.**_

 _ **It's a tie?! Well time for a Sudden Death Bonus Round (tiebreaker)**_

 _ **The round will be between Malik and Adewale if you have already voted and vote again your votes will not be counted (and i made a note of who voted already) This Bonus Round will end at 6pm tonight Australia time. If it is still a tie or no one votes, I will make the final decision myself.**_

 _ **Send your vote as a PM or Review**_

 _ **Again Happy Easter guys and as please Review**_

* * *

The Merry approached the port city of Nanhohana, and anchored at one of the loading docks. As soon as the ship stopped Jacob an Evie leaped over the side and landed on the docks. Before any of the straw hats could stop them a cart passed in front of them obstructing their view and when the cart moved away both twins were gone and so was Jacobs's boat.

"Okay that happened," Nami said and turned to the rest of the crew. "Listen up we're here to stock up on supplies. So that means lying low and not drawing attention to ourselves. Got it,"

A collective grunts of acknowledgment was the only answered she got.

"Nami I think we have a problem," Zoro claimed.

"What already?"

"Yeah the one person we need to worry about has already left,"

Nami quickly turned around and saw Luffy rush off into the city.

"I'll kill him, I swear I'll kill him," She said darkly.

"Well now what? We can't go wandering around," Sanji pointed out.

"I have an idea," Usopp claimed.

The straw hats all looked at him with curiosity.

Usopp's idea was terrible, the straw hats walked underneath a large blanket through the busy market streets. Not only were people staring at the moving blanket but it was incredibly hot underneath. Finally the straw hats uncovered themselves and his behind a broken wall just on the out skirts of town.

"So who's doing what?" Usopp asked.

Nami glared at him. "Right Sanji and Chopper will get supplies. The rest of us will wait here," she ordered.

"Yes NAMI-SWAN!" Sanji cheered.

"Why do we have to wait?" Connor asked.

"Well you and Vivi are on Crocodiles hit list and all but Sanji's face was copied by Mr 2,"

"Mr 2? When did we meet him?"

"Luffy fished him up out of the ocean while you were recovering. He had a devil fruit that let him copy anyone he touched," Vivi explained.

"Sanji was sitting with you so it's likely that Baroque works don't know he exists," Usopp finished.

"Lucky, I wish I didn't know he existed," Zoro muttered.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Sanji threatened.

"Sanji go now"" Nami ordered and Sanji was quick to obey. Chopper followed in his natural reindeer form.

"And don't forget to get us some clothes," Vivi yelled out.

* * *

Sanji wandered through the streets looking at all the stalls. He caught a whiff of something good and followed it to its source; a street vender was selling some meat Kababs. Sanji asked what the meat was and found out that it was Venison; he looked over at Chopper who had a horrified look on his face. Sanji bought one and found it rather tasty, he asked the man on how it was cooked and the vender gave him the recipe.

"Why did you eat that?" Chopper asked, as the two walked away.

"Just wanted to see if your tasty," Sanji joked "You know encase we need extra food or Luffy decides he no longer has use for you,"

Chopper stopped and stared at the pirate cook in disbelief and horror. Sanji turned and could see that chopper was on the verge of panicking.

"Chopper, I was joking," the cook claimed and continued on.

Chopper decided that the cook was nuts.

As they continued Sanji stopped at various food stalls for ingredients. Chopper was getting dizzy from the heat and went to find a shady spot to rest. As Sanji began to look for clothes that would fit everyone on the crew a particular shop caught his attention. It was a book shop.

Sanji stopped and looked back the way he came. After a split second decision he entered the shop, there was no one behind the register so he rang the bell on the counter. The owner of the shop came out a few seconds later he was dressed in dessert robes like everyone else in town. The man was in his mid-twenties; he had short black hair and was missing an arm. He wore thin long white robes with a red sash tied to his waist, a brown belt and a long black coat on top that covered everything up.

"Welcome, how can I help you?" the shop keeper asked.

"Have you got an up to date encyclopedia of devil fruits?" Sanji asked.

"Ah the one that the government publishes. Yes ,yes always in stock that one," the man said.

He walked over to one of the shelves and pulled out a thick blue book. He came back over to Sanji.

"This is the latest edition, it has all previously recorded fruits from earlier editions and a list of fruits that have been eaten," the man claimed.

"How would the government know what's been eaten and what hasn't?"

"I admit it's a little unreliable as there are still many undiscovered fruits. But fruits used by Marines and well known pirates are under that list,"

"And you're sure this is the latest version?"

"Absolutely came out his year look," the man opened the front page and Sanji saw the publishing date was the start of the year.

"How much?"

"Thirty berliis," the man said while wrapping the book up.

Sanji paid the man and left the shop to continue his shopping.

* * *

The rest of the crew were waiting for Sanji and chopper to return, Connor noticed that Vivi looked sad.

"What's wrong Vivi?" Connor asked.

"Mmm…Oh nothing just thinking about how I'm going to get home," Vivi awnsered.

"But you are home; don't you live in this country?"

"Yes, just not in this city,"

"Oh…which city is it?"

"It's called…" but before Vivi could finish Sanji came back.

"NAMI-SWANNN. VIVI-CHAAANNNN. I'M BACK!"

"Yup announce us for the whole country to hear. Idiot," Zoro grumbled.

Sanji handed out the new desert clothing he bought, strangely Namis and Vivis clothes were dancers outfits; much to the two girls annoyance. Connor got a long white hooded robe with a blue trims, and a red sash. Sanji claimed it was the most popular style for kids.

"So where are we heading next" Zoro asked Nami, once everyone had changed.

"Good question. Vivi what's the plan?" Nami asked the princess.

"What?" Vivi asked in surprise.

"You didn't think we'd just abandon you here did you?" Usopp asked.

"But I thought…"

Nami hit her lightly on the head "Listen we're in this together and we're going to see this through to the end,"

"Yup we wouldn't have agreed otherwise," Zoro agreed.

"Besides we're all wanted by Crocodile now," Connor added.

Vivi was touched; she had expected to be left in Nanohanna. But that wasn't the case; Vivi had never had friends like these before and she was truly grateful that she got on their ship.

The moment was ruined by someone screaming and a commotion down the street.

"Wonder what's going on?" Chopper commented.

"Probably some idiot running around making an ass of himself and attracting the local Marines' attention," Usopp claimed.

There was a moment of awkward silence.

"You don't suppose…" Zoro began.

"Yeah it's him," Sanji sighed.

Usopp peaked over the wall and saw Luffy being chased by Marines; He spotted Usopps' head and ran towards them.

"Hey Guys, over here,"

"DON'T COME OVER HERE!" the entire crew yelled and ran.

The Marines saw them and began chasing them. Connor looked back and noticed Smoker was among them. Suddenly a wall of flames appeared behind the straw hats separating them from the Marines. Both groups stopped running and stared in amazement as the flames receded and a man was standing there.

The man looked remarkably like Luffy; he didn't have a scar under his right eye but had some freckles on his face instead. The man wore black boots and knee-length shorts with an eyelet-studded orange belt, a blue pouch belted around his left leg.

He also wore a short second unfastened belt with a large red "A" on the silver buckle over his right hip. A dagger in a green sheath hung at his left hip. On his left arm was a Log Pose strapped around his wrist, an orange elbow guard and a tattoo that read "ASCE". He wore a red beaded necklace and an orange hat with two blue smileys, one frowning and one smiling, and a string of red beads sitting above the rim.

"Ace? ACE!" Luffy cried happily.

"Run I'll hold them off and catch up later," the man called Ace claimed.

"Okay don't get caught," Luffy said and ran; his crew followed.

As the straw hats ran towards the ship the sounds of battle behind them. Luffy looked back and saw a whirlwind of smoke and fire battling against each other in the sky.

"Everyone go left," Nami ordered.

Everyone but Luffy went left. The captain was more interested in the battle and he went right.

Once the merry was insight the straw hats picked up the pace and jumped on bard. Nami gave orders to set out immediately and the crew were quick to obey. As the merry was pulling away it was only then did they realise that Luffy was missing.

* * *

Luffy was indeed left behind and lost. Fortunately Ace had found him and he wasn't the only one. No sooner had the two started talking; they were attacked by Billions, the Baroque works henchmen. Of course they were no match for Ace and Luffy and were swiftly defeated.

"So you finally made it out here, huh?" Ace asked Luffy.

"Yep, got my own ship and everything," Luffy answered.

"Good knowing you, you'd try to sail the Grand Line in a life boat,"

"That was the plan but Zoro said we couldn't store food on them,"

Ace burst out laughing "You haven't changed a bit. So who's Zoro?"

"He's my first mate,"

"Nice tell me about your crew, what are they like?"

"Let's see… Zoro's a swordsman, our navigators a thief, our Sniper is a liar, our cook is love sick,"

"Wait love sick?"

"Yeah he fusses over girls an awful lot. Zoro says he's love sick," Luffy confirmed innocently.

"Oh that type of _Love_ sick," Ace said "Continue,"

"Right there's Connor and we recently got a riandeer and a princess," Luffy finished.

"Sounds fun, I'd sure like to meet them," Ace finished "by the way Luffy where are we going?"

"What do you mean? I'm following you," Luffy claimed.

"Luffy where is your ship?"

"I don't know?"

"You're the captain, how do you not know…"

"HELLLLLPPPPP SOMEBODYYYYY!" a women's voice shrieked form a nearby ally.

Luffy and Ace looked at each other and ran to the source of the cry. When they got there they found a silhouette of a man in a top hat holding up a young woman in expensive clothing.

"Hey you," Ace called to the man.

The man in the top hat turned to Ace and Luffy.

"Luffy? What are you doing back here?" the man asked "you know what hold on a sec,"

The man pulled out a knife and sliced the other woman's throat. The other woman died instantly and the man in the top hat dropped the body and walked towards Luffy. As the man approached Ace recognised him and stood in front of Luffy protectively. Luffy on the other hand just smiled.

"Lu run," Ace ordered "Run as far away and as fast as you can,"

"Jacob, nice to see you again," Luffy said ignoring the warning.

"It is isn't it, despite the fact it's only been two hours since we last met," Jacob joked "how's life? Better than hers I hope,"

"What? You know him?" Ace looked between Luffy and Jacob in shock.

"We met five days ago and he nearly killed one of my crew,"

"I already apologised for that and he got better," Jacob reminded.

"How do you know Jacob Ace?" Luffy asked.

"Luffy he's one of the most talented killers on the Grand Line," Ace claimed "He's toppled countries, assassinated kings, even Shichibukai are no match for him,"

"Really, So cool," Luffy had stars in his eyes.

"He's exaggerating, I've never even met a Shichibukai," Jacob claimed. "But in all seriousness what are you doing here, the Navy is on the lookout for your crew,"

Ace noted that Jacob didn't disagree with the anything else he had said.

"How do you know that?" Ace asked but was ignored.

"Yeah I got lost escaping from them," Luffy stated.

"I know a short cut to the coast, maybe you can spot your ship," Jacob said and walked off with Luffy following behind.

Ace was not going to leave his brother in the hands of Jacob Frye. He had only heard rumours about this man's brutality and Ace prayed that Evie Frye wasn't around. One of them was a force to be reckoned with but the two together…they were unstoppable.

Jacob led Luffy down a maze of alleyways and true to his word the ocean came into view. Luffy ran up to the edge of the path, scanning the horizon for the Merry.

Ace watched him but kept his eye on Jacob.

"That woman you killed, who was he," Ace asked.

"Oh she was a drug dealer," Jacob lied "Sold drugs to kids,"

"You're lying," Ace said.

"Obviously, though I'm not above killing drug lords" Jacob claimed and leaned closer to Ace "Do you know if there're any cartels in the area?"

"Hey there they are," Luffy yelled out, spotting the Merry.

Luffy stretched his arm out and grabbed the Merry's railing, he flew towards the ship. Ace watched him go and turned his attention back to Jacob. Now that Luffy was out of the way he could fight the man without any distractions. What surprised him was Jacob was already leaving.

"HEY! Where are you going?" Ace demanded.

"Oh you know countries to topple, kings to assassinate. I might even meet a Shichibukai" Jacob joked.

Ace couldn't tell if the man was serious or not. But then Jacob stopped and looked directly into Aces eyes.

"Ace, tell Whitebeard that he can expect a visit from us soon," Jacob said in a serious tone and walked away leaving Ace alone.

* * *

On the ship Luffy had crashed into Chopper and Sanji. The rest of the crew came over and Nami yelled at him.

"Why can't you act more like a Captain?" Zoro asked.

"I'm sorry," Luffy apologised. He then sprang up and began to look over to where he just was.

"Awww there gone," he moaned.

"They?" Nami asked.

"Ace and Jacob," Luffy answered.

"Jacob was with you?"

"Who's Ace?" Sanji asked.

"That would be me," Ace answered as he leapt up onto the Merry's railing. Everyone got into a defenceive stance. Now on board the Merry Ace got a good look at the crew, they were just like Luffy described and there really was a reindeer among them. He didn't show his surprise to find a young boy amongst them, but he knew once Luffy made his mind up about something there was no changing it.

"Guys this is Ace. My big brother," Luffy introduced excitedly.

"YOU'RE WHATTT?" the entire crew yelled back.

Ace bowed politely "It's a pleasure to meet you all. Thank you for looking after Luffy, I know he can be a handful,"

"Yes he is," the entire crew agreed.

"He probably has caused you all a lot of trouble, please bear with him,"

"Yes he has," the crew responded again.

"This is so wrong," Usopp stated.

"Yeah, who would have thought that anyone related to Luffy was so polite," Zoro agreed.

"There's no way you can be Luffys older brother," Nami claimed.

"Guys don't be rude," Vivi said.

"See aren't they funny," Luffy laughed.

"I'm sure you two want to catch up, I'll make some drinks," Sanji offered.

"Thank you for your offer but I'll have to decline," Ace said.

 ** _BOOM_**

The sound of a cannon being fired was heard and a cannon ball landed in front of the Merry the in water with a splash. The crew got into action and Ace noticed the young boy freeze up.

"Billions, a whole fleet," Vivi panicked.

"We're in rage of their guns," Usopp screamed.

Ace looked at the fleet of ships in front of him "Keep going, I'll handle this," He claimed.

Ace jumped of the ship into a small boat, as soon as he landed flames came out of his feet and the boat propelled towards the approaching fleet. The straw hats watched in amazement as Ace jumped over the fleet and when he had them all in rage he thrust his fist forward and a raging inferno followed. The fleet burned up and when the flames died down there was no sign of any remains.

"Whoa," Chopper expressed in awe. "Luffy is he really your brother?"

"Yup," Luffy answered.

"How did he produce those flames?" Vivi asked pointing at Ace.

"Ace ate the Mera-Mera no Mi," Luffy answered.

"He's so strong," Usopp noted.

"Yeah he's not the commander of Whitebeards second division for nothing," Luffy boasted.

"HE'S WHAT?!" Zoro yelled back.


	13. Alabaster Pt 4

_**A.n I own nothing.**_

 _ **The winner of the Ryu-Ryo fruit poll is: Adewale. Thanks to everyone who voted, Adewale will appear along with Captain Edward Kenway in the Rainbow Mist Arc**_

 _ **Please Review**_

* * *

The Merry sailed down the Alabastion coast line, careful not to stray too far from the Island. Ace had agreed to travel with them because he was headed to a town called Yuba, Vivi informed the crew that the rebellion was located in Yuba as well. Luffy was ecstatic to have his brother as a crew member, Ace pointed out that he was not joining them but Luffy ignored him anyway.

Zoro was suspicious of Ace due to his affiliation with white beard, as a former bounty hunter he knew of the White Beard pirates; but he was his captains brother and after seeing him berate Luffy and join in the welcome party he realised that Ace was not a bad guy. He also pitied the man for having to put up with Luffy as a child; Zoro shuddered at the thought of what that would have been like as a child.

Speaking of children Connor had practically disappeared, ever since Ace came on board, the boy was rarely seen on deck. Zoro knew he'd come if anyone called him, and he suspected that the absence had to do with Ace.

Inside the kitchen Sanji had given Nami the book he'd bought and Nami was looking through it. Ace came in to return his mug to the cook and asked if he needed help, Sanji of course declined. So Ace sat down with Nami.

"What are you reading?" He asked.

"The Encyclopedia for Devil Fruits," Nami answered "though I'm having trouble locating a certain fruit,"

"Need a hand," Ace offered.

"Actually that would be great, there are these three words that keep popping up and I have no clue what they mean,"

"What are they?"

"Paramecia, Zoan and Logia,"

"Ah well those are the three types of devil Fruit. Every Devil fruit falls under one of those," Ace explained "Paramecia types give the users a power that can affect their body, manipulate the environment, or produce substances; Luffys Gomu-Gomou no Mi falls under this type. The Zoan type allows the user to transform into another species and inter-species hybrid forms at will. And Logia gives its user the ability to turn into a natural element or force of nature,"

"An element?

"Yeah I ate the Merra- Mera no Mi so I can control fire, my body can also be come fire at will,"

"I see, so that would make Chopper a Zoan type user then,"

"I guess; what fruit are you looking for any way?"

"I'm not sure; one to do with slavery, one of our crew is affected by it,"

"Probably a Paramecia type then, they can affect other people and objects,"

Nami looked through the Paramecia section of the book but found no fruit for slavery.

"I don't know of any fruit dealing with slavery. Pops might though, I could call and ask," Ace suggested.

Nami nodded and Ace pulled out a Den-Den Mushi, he dialled the number and a voice answered on the other end.

"S'up Marco here," Marco answered.

"Hey Marco its Ace, can I talk to pops?"

There was a shuffling noise and an imposing voice was heard over the phone.

"Ace where are you?" a deep voice asked.

"Hey old man, I'm with my baby brother on his ship," Ace answered.

"So you're safe then, good,"

"Yup, but the navigators got a question about a certain devil fruit. Do you mind if I put her on?"

"Her? Is she good looking?" the Marcos voice asked. Nami blushed.

"I'd say so,"

"Sweet I might come out for a visit. Where are you?"

"Marco you'll stay right where you are you little brat," the deep voice ordered "Ace put her on,"

Ace handed the receiver to Nami and she took it.

"Hello?" she asked hesitantly.

"Hello miss what can I do for you?"

"Umm I'm looking for a certain devil fruit, do you know any that have anything to do with slavery?"

"That's a pretty specific fruit…none that I can think of off the top of my head; do you have the Encyclopedia for Devil Fruits?"

"Yes I have the latest edition in front of me," Nami answered.

"Someone get me that damn book," the voice yelled "I'll have a look through my books and see if I can find any. I'll call back if I find any information," the voice finished.

"Thank you, I'll keep looking too," Nami said and the call ended.

* * *

Connor was hiding under Namis trees; he had been there since Ace had destroyed the Billons ships. It wasn't that he was afraid of Ace, he seemed like a nice guy; he didn't want to be near him. Ace had the power of fire and it reminded Connor of the blaze that had burnt his village down. So he'd made himself scares the first chance he got.

When Ace went inside the kitchen Usopp called out for Connor to join him. Connor had no desire to leave the safety of the trees but knew he had no choice. He came out of hiding and went directly to Usopp.

"Yes," he said expecting some order of some kind.

"Hey I saved you some food," Usopp claimed and offer the boy a plate.

Connor looked at it "thanks," he said and started to eat it slowly.

"Hey have you heard the legend of the Warrior princess?" Usopp asked.

This led to another one of Usopp's tall tales; both Chopper and Luffy were drawn into it believing every word. Connor on the other hand knew it was all false but got caught up in the story none the less; he hadn't even notice Ace sit behind him and listen in.

When Usopp had finished Luffy noticed his brother and asked if he had any stories to tell. Connor instantly froze and slowly looked behind him, to see ace sitting there. He jumped up and hid behind Usopp, gripping Usopps new desert robes tightly.

Usopp noticed the change in behaviour and it concerned him. He and the others had worked hard to bring Connor out of his shell, yet here he was hiding from a stranger. Had they not made any progress at all?

"Oi Connor I don't think Ace is going to hurt you," Usopp claimed.

"Yeah that's right I'm a big warm teddy bear," Ace said with a smile and reached for Connor.

Connor yelped in fear and ran to other end of the ship hiding behind Zoro. Zoro was quite surprised when Connor hid behind him; he gave the others a questioning look and Usopp just shrugged.

"Sorry about him Ace, he's not usually like this," Luffy apologised.

"It's fine Lu," Ace said brushing it off.

* * *

That night when Sanji called dinner, Connor didn't join them. The crew had noticed that every time Ace was nearby Connor wold run off to a different part of the ship, at first they thought the boy was shy but when he didn't show for dinner they knew something was wrong.

Nami went out to find him; Connor was sitting against the mast his arms wrapped around his knees.

"Connor everything okay?" Nami asked.

Connor looked up at Nami and shook his head "I'm not hungry,"

"Are you sure, Sanji made Paella,"

Conner didn't respond to that.

"Do you want come in and sit with us anyway; you don't have to eat,"

"I'm fine out here,"

"If you're sure," Nami said and headed back into the kitchen.

"Is he coming?" Sanji asked.

Nami shook her head "He said he's not hungry and he doesn't want to come in,"

"I'm sorry guys, he must be afraid of me," Ace apologised.

"I'll take him a plate," Sanji said and served out the dinner before leaving with Connors share.

On deck Sanji approached Connor and placed a plate of hot Paella in front of him, he then sat with him while the boy ate his share.

"So do you want to talk about it?" Sanji asked.

Connor looked at Sanji in confusion.

"Don't give me that look; you've been avoiding us all day. Every time Ace shows up you run off to the other end of the ship," the cook claimed.

Connor looked down in shame.

"Is it because he's Luffys brother? Does that mean he can control you too?"

"No, Ace holds no power over me," Connor claimed.

"Then what is it?" Sanji asked.

"I'm afraid of his power," Connor admitted.

"Why would you be afraid of fir…oh, oh s***," Sanji realised "Oh man I'm sorry kid,"

"It's not your fault; I just can't stand to be close to him. It brings back unwanted memories," Connor said sadly.

Sanji nodded.

Suddenly the door to the kitchen opened and Vivi came out.

"Sanji you'd better come back in here," She called.

Sanji got up and walked back inside the kitchen muttering something about Luffy eating everything.

In the kitchen he was surprised to find Ace with his Den-Den Musi out and the straw hats were staring at it; dinner completely forgotten.

"What's going on?" Sanji asked Vivi.

"Ace's captain's on the phone and he has news about a certain fruit," Vivi explained.

Ace looked at Sanji and then spoke into the receiver "Okay pops we're all here, what've you got?"

"Ace that fruit that your brothers navigator is looking for…don't go after it," Whitebeard warned. "In fact forget how you heard about it and never think of it again,"

Luffy snatched the receiver from Ace's hands "Listen up you old geezer, you don't decide how my crew thinks, if we want that fruit we'll go after it with or without your help," Luffy boldly stated.

Ace shook his head and the rest of the crews jaw dropped. Luffy had just insulted and talked back to the most powerful pirate in the world.

"BWHAAAAAA Your a funny brat, now listen up turn to page 72 in your Encyclopedia of Devil Fruits. Once you read the description of the fruit you'll be wise to forget its existence," Whitebeard advised and hung up.

Nami grabbed the book and found the page 65(1); she read the description briefly and dropped the book in horror.

"T…T…That can't be real," She managed to get out.

Vivi picked up the book and read it she gasped. The straw hats were now very concerned and Vivi put the book on the table for everyone to read. In the top left corner of the page was a picture of a Pineapple with a wavy pattern across it, the tips of the waves swirled into spirals and a description next to it.

 _Name: Brand - Brand no Mi_

 _Type: Paramecia_

 _Power: This fruit allows the user to forcibly control any living creature by placing a brand on their victim's body. The user can then force their will on those that are branded, if the victims refuse or resist that will the brand will cause them immense pain increasing over time until they submit to what the user desires. Should the branded continue to resist the brand will shut down internal functions and eventually cause death._

 _When it comes to trading branded (humans, giant's, mermaids, etc.) the user can transfer ownership of the braded to others. The brands will then enforce the will of the new owner or controller by someone other than the user of this fruit; this can even extend to a group of people e.g. a ship crew or family. If the branded is abandoned or the previous owner/owners die, the brand will place them in an unmoving and unresponsive state. The branded can only come out of this state by being claimed by another; this is done by interacting with the branded._

 _Depending on the circumstances ownership is transferred in different ways e.g. when the owner dies, willingly gives the branded away and defeated in battle. In the case of a crew or family ownership is transferred from the highest ranking member Capitan – first mate or father- firstborn in a group like this the only way to transfer ownership to someone outside the group is for everyone in the family or crew to agree to relinquish claim on the branded. If the entre group is defeated ownership will transfer to the one who defeated them._

 _The brand also has an interesting side effect; it prevents any outside influence on the braded. This means that if anyone or anything tries to stop the braded from fulfilling orders the brand will nullify it. This includes injury, sickness, fatigue, drugs and even other devil fruit powers._ _The reverse effect is also true if the owner of the branded wants the braded to learn something new the brand will speed up the leaning process._

 _Weakness:_

 _The User of this fruit is vulnerable to Seawater and Seatone. Appling ether of these directly to a brandeds brand will temporally nullify the effects of the brand. It is currently unknown if the user of this fruit can remove any brand previously placed; as there have been no successful removals recorded._

Everyone in the cabin stared at the book, according to the book even if they found the user of the fruit; there was no guarantee that they could remove the brand. Connor was stuck with it for life.

Ace reading the atmosphere was slightly confused by it. Whitebeard had given them the information they wanted yet instead of Luffy demanding that they set off to find the fruit he looked very depressed.

"So Lu are you going to find this fruit now? Because I've got this big brother speech on why you shouldn't prepared," Ace joked.

"The book is wrong," Luffy declared "there has to be a way to remove it,"

"Luffy this book is published by the Governments top scientists and researchers," Usopp added.

"So?"

"Remove? Hold on I'm confused. I thought you wanted to go after this fruit to eat it?" Ace interrupted.

"No, Connor is affected by this fruit. We want to remove the brand placed on him," Nami explained.

"And if one of us has to eat the fruit to do it…so be it," Zoro added.

Now it made sense, Connor was branded and that was why he was with his brother. Ace knew there was a good reason, as Luffy was too simple minded to be a kidnapper. But branded Ace had been on the Grand Line long enough to have seen the horrors of slave trade; he would not wish that fate on anyone. (Except perhaps Blackbeard)

"You know fruit's that have effects on others tend to disappear when the user is knocked out," Ace said "Maybe the brand will disappear once the user loses conciseness,"

"So we beat this guy up and the brand disappears? It can't be that simple," Nami pointed out.

"Hey I've never encountered this fruit before, but a lot of fruits loose there affect if the user is out cold," Ace advised "Also the only one who truly knows everything that a fruit can do is the user,"

"Really? That explains it then," Luffy interrupted,

"Explains what?" Sanji asked, almost fearing the answer.

"When I first saw the Gomu-Gomu no Mi I had no idea what it was. It was only after I ate it that I knew what it could do and how it affected my body," Luffy explained.

"That's the same with me and my Mera-Mera no Mi, one bite was all it took to learn how to control it," Ace claimed.

"I knew how to change forms and speak almost instantly after eating mine," Chopper added.

"So only fruit users know the full extent of their abilities," Usopp reasoned.

"If that's the case then the user of this fruit might be the only one who knows if brands can be removed," Sanji finished.

"And could have kept it secret from the government, that's why it's not in the book," Nami theorised.

* * *

The next day the Merry arrived at its destination, the closest coast to Yuba. The plan was to sail the Merry as close as they could and then cross the desert to Yuba. As soon as they docked Vivi gave Carue a letter to take to her father; the letter explained everything that had happened since her disappearance two years ago and all the information she had discovered.

Luffy and Usopp found some strange fighting creatures called Kung Fu Dugongs and they quickly became Luffy's disciples. Vivi tried to explain why they could not come with them and Chopper had to bribe them with half their food supply to stay put.

The straw hats then began their long trek across the desert. At first Luffy seemed enthusiastic about the trip and could not wait to see what strange creatures lived in the dessert. But that enthusiasm lasted ten minutes, apparently rubber and desert heat did not mix. Chopper was also having a hard time and ended up being dragged by Zoro on a make shift sled. This was because Chopper was from a winter Island and he had a pretty thick fur coat.

The heat didn't bother the rest of the straw hats much; Vivi was used to it, Zoro Sanji, Nami and Usopp put up with it. Ace was living fire so he was immune and Connors brand prevented him from feeling the immense fatigue and exhaustion.

As they were walking Usopp complained about the massive sand dunes. Vivi explained that the tallest ones reached over 300 meters high. It was because of frequent sandstorms. A short time later Luffy demanded some water, Nami allowed it but only one sip. He nearly drank the entire supply thanks to his rubber body but Sanji hit him for it and he spat it back into the barrel.

"Idiot, what are we supposed to drink now?" Usopp demanded.

"LUFFY, I SAID ONE SIP!" Nami yelled and punched him.

Sanji and Usopp also joined in in punishing their selfish captain. Zoro and Connor both sighed from the sidelines. Ace watched the fight with a strange yet contemplate look in his eye. When they stared moving again Luffy's face was badly bruised, swollen and had several large bumps on his head.

After four hours of walking the straw hats came across a town half buried in sand; it was in ruins. The sight of the town saddened Vivi greatly. They decided to stop for a short break.

"Where are we?" Nami asked, as they walked through town.

"Erumalu, the Green City," Vivi answered solemnly.

"Whoa our first day in the desert and we already found an ancient civilation," Usopp commented.

"This city is was founded eight years ago," Vivi confirmed.

"Really?" Zoro asked, he kicked the base of a nearby tree and the bark crumbled.

"Yes it's been abandoned due to the drought. Erumalu was once a thriving city, it had trees and flowers and everything" Vivi reminisced.

"How did they support all that in the desert?" Connor asked.

Vivi led the straw hats to what looked to be a wide road covered in sand.

"A road? What about it?" Sanji asked.

"It's not a road, it's a stream. There's an underground lake near where we docked the Merry, a cannel connects this stream to the lake so water flowed through the city,"

"So why did the water stop flowing?" Luffy asked.

"It didn't. This city suddenly had a rush of severe sandstorms and they blocked the mouth of the stream. Preventing the water from coming through; in the end the City was abandoned," Vivi finished.

The straw hats went silent, no wonder Vivi was sad. If this drought lasts any longer then Alabasta was doomed. After a quick break they continued on.

In the late afternoon when the sun began to set, the straw hats stopped to make camp for the night. As soon as the sun set the temperature plummeted; what had been a very hot day had turned into a freezing cold night. Ace and Chopper were not affected by the sudden drop in temperature; in fact Chopper was enjoying it, he had more energy at night then during the day. Ace used his powers to get a fire going. Over dinner Vivi explained why it was so cold.

"There's nothing in the desert to absorb heat, so it's below freezing temperature at night," She claimed.

Sleeping arrangements were that the boys shared one big tent and the two girls had their own. While this was good in theory Nami and Vivi found themselves barely getting warm. In the boys tent however Ace was able to keep them nice and warm all night.

The next morning when the boys got up feeling well rested; Nami and Vivi were not.

"How do you boys have so much energy?" Nami moaned.

"We slept great," Luffy cheered happily.

"Didn't the cold bother you?" Vivi asked amazed.

"It did at first but then Ace used his powers to keep us nice and warm all night,"

Nami's eye twitched and she snapped.

"WHAT?! YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT YOU SLEPT SOUNDLY ALL BECAUSE OF YOUR BROTHER? WE COULD BEARLY STAY WARM!" Nami yelled and shook Luffy violently.

"Why are you blaming me? You're the one who instead on sleeping separately," Luffy pointed out.

Nami dropped her captain and marched over to Ace.

"You you're sleeping in our tent from now on," she declared.

"WHAT?" all the boys of the crew yelled out, except Ace.

"SHUT UP" Nami threatened.

They did.

Ace looked at his brother and felt sorry for him; Nami sure was tough and scary.

"Thank you for the invitation but I must decline. It would be an invasion of privacy to sleep in your tent, besides I cannot in good concise leave my baby brother to freeze," Ace said politely.

Again the straw hats were amazed that Ace and Luffy were related, Luffy was never this considerate.

"But…But…" Nami stuttered.

"Nami why don't we just join the tents together," Usopp suggested "That way Ace can heat them both,"

The next night that is exactly what they did and everyone slept soundly.

* * *

 _ **(1) This is a reference to the Thirtieth amendment. In 1865 Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery in America at the end of the American Civil War and sadly was killed for it later that year.**_


	14. Alabaster Pt 5

_**A.n I own nothing**_

 _ **Please Review**_

* * *

The day had started like any other; wake up, have breakfast and continue a seven day hike across the dessert. Not long after beginning the days trek Luffy wanted to play a game with everyone, the catch was that the winner had to carry all the supplies. Connor was not so good with games so he expected to lose; the other straw hats only agreed to play because Luffy would not shut up about it until the played.

Turns out Luffy won, so he had to carry all the luggage. Sanji pointed out that normally the loser would have to carry the luggage and not the victor. Luffy carried the luggage for five minutes before he started to complain. Connor offered to take some of it for him but Nami reminded the boy that Luffy had made the rules so he should obey them.

After an hour Luffy was struggling to keep up with the rest of the group. Vivi decided that they would take a break at the next lot of shade they found. Before too long some tall rocks were seen and as soon as Luffy caught sight of it he dashed towards the shade.

This was not surprising to the others, what was surprising was that Luffy had come running back yelling for Chopper to treat some injured birds. When the group arrived there were no birds and the supplies were gone. The crew glared at Luffy.

"Luffy, where's our water?" Nami asked dangerously.

"I'm telling you there were injured white birds," Luffy defended himself.

"Did these birds look like stalks, white feathers and long necks?" Vivi asked.

"Yeah that's them, but they looked badly hurt,"

"Luffy those were Warusagi Birds. They trick travellers and steal their supplies,"

"WHAT? WHY DIDN'T YOU WARN US ABOUT THEM?"

"I'm sorry I just forgot,"

Connor looked towards the horizon, crossing the dessert without food or water would be impossible, he suddenly noticed a flock of birds with their supplies. The birds were smirking at the crew and had an evil look in their eyes.

"Hey are those the birds that took our stuff?" Connor asked and pointed at the flock.

Luffy took one look at the birds and chased after them demanding the supplies back, the birds flew off into the dessert and Luffy followed them.

"Luffy wait, we can't get separated out here," Vivi warned, but Luffy ignored here and kept going.

Ace watched his brother go with an indifferent look on his face. They all sat down on the rocks waiting for Luffy to return. After forty minutes Zoro decided to look for Luffy.

"Wait Zoro don't go," Sanji begged.

"What why?" asked Zoro.

"Because you'll get lost and then we'll have to look for you too,"

Zoro froze and his eye twitched at what Sanji was implying; this of course started another fight. Vivi made a move to stop them but Ace grabbed her shoulder, he shook his head. Tacking Ace's advice Vivi did not stop the fight. Suddenly a large dust cloud approached the group at an alarming pace; Usopp used his binoculars to get a better look and discovered that Luffy was riding a camel. They were being chased very large purple lizard; Sanji and Zoro stopped fighting and in brought the lizard down in one combined attack.

"Well that's our food problem solved," Usopp claimed.

The straw hats agreed and Luffy was pestering Sanji to cook the giant lizard. Vivi was looking around in panic.

"Vivi what's wrong?" Nami asked.

"Well it's just that this particular type of lizard…" she didn't get to finish her sentence when a second lizard burst out of the sand.

"Always hunt in pairs," Vivi finished.

The second lizard looked over the group; it focused on the closest member to itself which was Ace and swallowed him whole. Suddenly the Lizard started spewing out flames and it ran in a circle trying to get spit what Ace up. The lizard spat Ace into the air and as soon as Ace was out he sent a coelom of fire at the Lizard,; when the fire faded the lizard was burnt to a crisp. Ace landed in front of the now flame grilled lizard.

"Ace are you all right?" Chopper asked concerned.

"Yeah, guess he couldn't handle a little spicy food," Ace joked.

Sanji cooked the first lizard using the hot rocks around as frying pans. The thicker and tougher pieces were cooked using Aces powers. Both Chopper and Connor were amazed that Sanji could cook using rocks. The straw hats decided to keep the camel and ride it across the desert; unfortunately the camel was a massive pervert only let ladies ride it. So Nami named it Eyelashes.

After the lizard had been eaten the group continued on, they needed to find water and quick. As they were walking a nice light breeze began to blow. This was unusual due to the lack of trees in the dessert.

"Hey wat's that?" Zoro asked and looked to the west of them.

The straw hats looked out west and Vivi panicked. There was a large sandstorm heading their way.

"Everyone group up quick," She urged urgently.

"Why?" Luffy asked.

"That's a massive sandstorm, we need to take cover. Without our tents or any kind of shelter were sitting ducks,"

"There's no shelter around," Usopp panicked.

"Exactly so group up and stay together, we'll have to walk through it," Vivi said "whatever happens do not get separated,"

The storm hit them a few minutes later, it was rough and sand was blowing everywhere. Fighting against the wind and extremely low visibility was difficult. Connor tried to activate his second sight but it was impossible to keep his eyes open with all the sand blowing around.

Suddenly the storm stopped, the straw hats were relieved that it was over. Vivi however warned otherwise.

"Everyone join hands quick. A sand tornado is coming," she warned.

"How do you know?" Nami asked.

"You could say that we're in the eye of a sandstorm now,"

"You're joking right? Pleas say that you're joking," Nami cried. As the ships navigator she knew full well what Vivi was implying.

Vivi shock her head "I wish I was," she said.

"Everyone hold hands NOW!" Nami yelled.

Sanji wanted to hold Vivi's and Namis hands but got stuck with Luffy's and Zoro's. Just then the tornado hit the group, the wind was incredibly rough and it only got worse; it felt like the storm was specifically targeting them. Try as they might each straw hat knew that it was only a matter of time before they were blown away.

Nami, Vivi and Eyelashes were the first to be blown away. Zoro, Chopper and Luffy were next; followed by Usopp and Sanji and finally Connor and Ace.

* * *

A caravan was making its way across the desert; it was pulled by two camels. Two men sat in front one driving the other held a rifle at the ready. Inside were four other men, they were sitting on various wooden crates and barrels. This was a supply caravan headed towards the city of Rainbase, one of the few cities that had withstood the drought.

The man driving the craven pulled it to a stop; something was half buried in the sand in front of them. The man with the rifle got down and went to investigate, he walked up to whatever was buried and was surprised to find it was a person. He jabbed the half buried person twice with his rifle but didn't get a response.

The man dug the person out and got a good look at him, his eyes went wide when he realised who he'd just discovered; it was Connor. The man checked the boys pulse and he was still alive, he picked up the un-moving boy and carried him back to the caravan.

"What'cha got there?" the driver asked.

"It's that kid from the wanted poster, you know the one who knows the boss's secret," the man carrying Connor answered.

"Seriously? What's he doing all the way out here?"

"Who knows who cares? We just found the number two on the boss's most wanted list, if we take him back with us we'll be promoted to double digits,"

"Your right, he looks in bad shape though,"

"He's still alive, if we keep him that way then we might get a bonus. You know how the boss likes to make his enemies suffer,"

"Put him in the back and have the others guard him," the driver ordered.

The man carrying Connor was happy to oblige, once he got in the caravan started moving again. The man placed Connor in the centre of the cart and bound his hands and feet with rope; he ordered the other four men to guard the boy and never take their eyes off him before moving back to his original position up front.

"We are going to be so rich after this," the driver claimed.

* * *

Ace had been wandering the dessert alone for some time now, ever since the storm blew him away from the others. When the storm had hit and he'd been blown clear of the sand in the air; Ace had immediately changed his body into flames. Thanks to this he had travelled quite the distance through the air and when he'd hit the ground it' hadn't hurt.

Now lost and alone in the dessert Ace had used his Observation Haki to see if anyone was around. He doubted that any of the Straw hats would be in range, but if he could find a settlement then he could get directions to Yuba and much needed supplies. Fortunately his Haki detected a six people, they were altogether and he suspected that they were travellers; they were on the very edge of his senses.

Ace started walking in their direction; he'd be lucky to catch up to them before dark. As he walked through the dessert he could not help worry about Luffy. Ace new that trouble always found his little brother and he had been worried about him ever since he left him alone on their Island back in the East Blue. When he saw Luffys wanted poster he had been extremely proud of him and it also increased his worry; however the rest of Luffys crew seemed quite capable.

It was comforting to know that they were looking out for Luffy, although he'd never admit it. He checked with Haki every now and again to make sure he was still following the six travellers. As night approached he noticed that the travellers had stopped probably to make camp, they were still several miles away from Ace.

It was close to midnight by the time Ace approached the camp, he noticed six figures sleeping around a medium sized camp fire. Off to the side was a caravan that likely held supplies, Ace decided to borrow some water. He'd explain himself and his situation to the travellers in the morning, he walked over to the caravan expecting supplies to inside it what Ace was not expecting to find was Connor tied up and shivering in the cold.

Ace approached the boy silently and knelt in front of him, he placed a hand on the boys shoulder. As soon as he touched him Connors eyes snapped open, the boy stared at Ace with a mixture of relief and fear.

"Ace?" Connor whispered.

Ace nodded and a felt the Connors forehead, taking his temperature; he was incredibly cold. Ace moved his hand to Connors chest, using his powers to raise his palms temperature. Warmth flooded Connors body and he realised what Ace was doing.

"Better?" Ace asked.

"Yeah," Connor answered "How are you doing that?"

"Well I am living fire, so it's only natural that I can control my own body temperature. It took a while to learn how to do it without bursting into flames though,"

Connor nodded and they stayed that way for about five minutes before Ace removed his hand, during that time Connor asked about the rest of the crew but Ace hadn't seen them. He then went moved behind Connor and cut his hands and feet free with his dagger.

"What happened why were you tied up?" Ace asked.

"I woke up like that, these men work for Baroque works they must have found me after the storm blew us away. They were planning to give me to their boss in exchange for a promotion," Connor explained.

"Baroque works? That bounty hunting group. Why would they want you? You don't have a bounty,"

Connor then explained the about the civil war, Vivi and how the straw hats had got involved. Ace interrupted to ask the odd question but mainly listed to what Connor had to say. When he was done Ace rubbed his template in annoyance.

"Luffy what have you gotten yourself into this time?" he muttered to himself "we need to find the others,"

"How? They could be anywhere by now," Connor said, he doubted his second sight would help.

"Leave that to me, by the way these men didn't hurt you did they?"

"No, I struggled a bit when I woke up but stopped when I noticed their guns trained on me,"

"Good, let's grab some supplies and get out of here before those men wake up," Ace suggested.

Ace found an empty sack and stared loading it up with dried beef, bread and anything else that would survive the dessert heat. Connor found a couple of water skins and a few barrels filled with water, he filled them and gave them to Ace. Ace also grabbed a barrel of water to take with them; as soon as Connor climbed out of the caravan the cold hit him and he began to shiver.

Ace mentally cursed himself, Connor would not be able to travel at night; Ace could carry the boy to keep him warm but then he'd have to forfeit the supplies. He thought about taking the caravan but that would leave these men with no way to survive the dessert and staying with them was not an option either. Fortunately there was a sled among the supplies, Ace grabbed it and loaded the supplies onto the sled.

"Climb on my back," Ace told Connor, and removed his desert robe.

"Wh…a..tt?" Connor asked in surprise, he was shivering and only just managed to get the word out.

"Look we're going to have to travel at night, the cold doesn't affect me like it dose you. If you climb on my back I can keep you warm and pull the supplies," Ace reasoned.

Connor was very hesitant to but he did what he was told. Once on his back Connor instantly felt warmer and Ace put the desert robe back on covering Connor to help keep the boy warm; Ace started walking.

* * *

Ace and Connor continued through the dessert, Ace was using his Haki trying to find any sign of a settlement or his brother. They had been walking for two days now and still no sign of the other straw hats. During the day Connor and Ace would walk through the dessert, at night they'd stop and make camp; Ace would wake Connor up a few hours before dawn so they could cover more ground. Ace would carry Connor to keep him warm while the boy went back to sleep on his back.

While looking for Luffy was defiantly Ace's top priority something else was on his mind; Connor. When Ace had been on his own he'd found the caravan with the six Baroque works agents with Haki, and used it to track them through the day. However when he did catch up Connor was with them bring the total up to seven people; yet Ace had only sensed six the entre time.

He knew that observation Haki had a hard time telling the difference between someone who was dead or just asleep/knocked out; Ace had just assumed that Connor was unconscious most of the time he'd been with the caravan but the boy claimed otherwise. Ace had been using his Haki over the last day or two and every time he used it Connor did not even register, Ace knew that the boy was walking beside him and he could even see him; but his Haki was not picking him up.

During the journey Ace asked Connor what it was like to sail with Luffy. Connor honestly had no complaints as he enjoyed it, he told Ace about some of the straw hats past adventures. The more Ace heard the more he felt relieved that Luffy had good friends watching over him. Ace made a mental note to speak with the rest of the straw hats about his brother.

On the third day the supplies that they'd stolen had run out, they had no more food and were running dangerously low on water; thankfully Ace had picked up a settlement nearby. When they arrived it turned out to be a town that was built into the side of a canyon. The canyon walls provide shelter form both the sun and sandstorms; it was likely that there was an underground source of water nearby otherwise the town would not have been built here.

As they walked into town people stopped what they were doing to stare at the two travellers. The towns' folk looked at them with suspicion and fear. Connor found it unnerving; he activated his second sight and was relieved that the towns' folk were white and not red. Ace understood their suspicion; the country was in the middle of a civil war after all.

A man approached them "Greeting travellers, what bring you to our town," the man asked.

"We're kind of lost our way and need supplies desperately," Ace claimed.

"Oh you're not bandits or rebels right?"

"Nope just your average travellers who lost their stuff thanks to a sandstorm," Ace answered.

The man sighed with relief and led them to the market square, it turns out that the man was the mayor of this town. They'd been having trouble with bandits and Sand pirates lately; also a group of rebels had passed through a while ago and taken most of their food. Thankfully they missed a few hidden store houses and the town had managed to get back on its feet.

Ace bought a whole bunch of food and water; he bought as much as the sled would hold. Connor had spied a restaurant and Ace decided to grab a bite before leaving town. They were in the middle of lunch when the mayor came in looking for them.

"Oh good you're here, I need your help," the Mayor said.

"Sure what's up?" Ace asked.

"The Sand pirates are approaching," the mayor claimed "they always come here to steal our food and water. If you can fight please protect us,"

"Don't you have any weapons or solders here?" Connor asked.

"Not any more, the solders that were stationed here left to fight in the war and they took all the weapons with them," the mayor claimed.

"Fine I'll go fight them, I need to work off lunch," Ace claimed and asked the waiter if they could get there uneaten lunch as a takeaway.

Ace and Connor went to meet the Sand pirates and were quite shocked when it turned out to be Luffy and Sanji. They were both happy to see Ace and Connor were alright, Luffy hugged his older brother when Ace showed them the supplies he'd bought and gave Luffy his uneaten lunch.

While Luffy was devouring Aces lunch Sanji filled them in on what had happened to the rest of the crew. He and Usopp had landed in a hidden supply storage, they had waited for the owners to come and were surprised to meet up with Luffy. Apparently the Storage belonged to a group of desert Pirates that had found Nami, Vivi and Eylashes.

Luffy, Zoro and Chopper had only met up with them thanks to Chopper following the scent of Nami's perfume. Luffy had instantly befriended the pirates and offered to make a supply run for them. The nearest supply cache was the one where Usopp and Snaji had been. After reuniting with the others on the ship Luffy wanted to find Connor and Ace; as they were both still unaccounted for.

Nami suggested that they head for Yuba because that is the most likely place that both Ace and Connor would be found. The captain of the Sand pirates agreed to give them a ride on his ship, he also mentioned a town not too far from Yuba that they should cheek as well.

Ace and Connor followed Sanji and Luffy back to the Sand pirates ship, the rest of the straw hats we're quite happy that they were all back together again.


	15. Alabaster Pt 6

_**A.n I own nothing**_

 _ **Please Review**_

* * *

When the straw hats arrived in Yuba they were very surprised to find it looked exactly like Erumalu; Yuba was supposed to be an oasis that linked all the towns and cities together. But it had been destroyed, the buildings were broken, the oasis was dry, the trees were dead and the town half buried in sand; Yuba had been abandoned. Vivi was horrified at the state off the town and to make matters worse there was no sign of the rebels.

"This can't be…the rebels…they should be here," Vivi stuttered.

"Wasn't this place supposed to be an oasis?" Zoro asked.

"Vivi-chan are we even in the right place?" Sanji asked.

"Of course we are, but…" Vivi answered.

"This place looks worse than Erumalu," Connor stated.

"Connor! Watch what you say," Nami warned and went to comfort Vivi.

Ace used his Haki and found only one other person nearby. "Hey there's someone still here," he announced.

Vivi looked at Ace hopefully and Ace lead them to the Oais, there was an old man digging in it, likely looking for water. The old man stopped digging for a moment to look at the crew but went back to digging.

The old man's body looked shrivelled up from thirst and starvation. He had an elderly face, and a thick fuzzy moustache. He wore a white wrap around his head, he wore black desert robes, that were torn in some places, and a green robe underneath, a turquoise sash, with blue dots.

"Are you travellers? You must be tired after your trip through the dessert. I'm sorry to tell you that the towns a little dried up at the moment,"

The straw hats stared at the old man, just how long had he been here digging.

"If you want to rest, there's plenty of inns to choose from. No charge of course,"

"Umm we were told that the Rebels were using this place as a base," Nami said, hoping for some information.

"WHAT? DON'T TELL ME YOU CAME HERE TO JOIN THEM," The old man asked and suddenly turned violent. He began throwing a number of buckets and barrels at the group, most of them hit Luffy.

"Those fools are gone, thanks to this drought sandstorms pass through here daily," he continued once he'd run out of things to throw.

"What? A sandstorm passes by every day," Ace repeated.

"Without fail," the old man confirmed "and they have slowly tuned Yuba into this state. Without the Oasis the rebels packed up and relocated to Katorea,"

Vivi gasped at this information and the Straw hats jaws dropped; they had come all this way for nothing.

"What there not here?" Usopp complained.

"Vivi where's Katorea, is it nearby?" Luffy asked urgently.

The man suddenly stared at Vivi intensely.

"It's the oasis next to Nanohana," Vivi claimed "we were already there a week ago,"

Suddenly Eyelash made a string of camel sounds.

"I can confirm that," Chopper translated "I actually work for the rebels,"

Luffy, Sanji and Usopp suddenly turned on the camel and began beating him up. "Why didn't you say something sooner you dumb animal," they yelled angrily.

"You never asked," Chopper translated again.

This made the three even angrier. The old man slowly approached Vivi and it made her a bit uncomfortable.

"Vivi, is it really you?" the old man asked, he was now directly in front of the princes.

"NO VIVI'S NOT A PRINCESS OR ANYTHING!" Luffy yelled.

Zoro hit him over the head "Idiot don't tell him that," he scolded.

"Vivi it is you, you've grown so much I didn't recognise you," the old man claimed.

"I'm sorry but I don't know you,"

The old man's smile faded at the response "Yes I suppose you wouldn't recognise me now, I've lost quite a bit of weight,"

"I don't…Grandpa Toto?" Vivi suddenly asked.

"GRANDPA?" The straw hats yelled.

"You do remember me, thank you. Vivi know that I have never doubted your father and I still believe in him,"

"Wait a second," Ace interrupted "this old man is your grandfather, what's a former king doing out here?"

"Former king?" Toto asked confused.

"Actually were not related in any way," Vivi confessed "when I was a little girl Toto's son was my best friend, I was always at his place and he instead that I call him Grandpa,"

"Vivi's the daughter I never had; I consider her part of my family. I was older then the king and Vivi had no living grandparents so I let her call me Grandpa," Toto explained.

"How did the king take it when he found out?" Zoro asked.

"Surprisingly well once he stopped crying. The king used to sneak out of the palace to come and visit me, his body guards were furious with him but we always ended up having tea together," Toto laughed at the memory.

The first time it had happened Toto nearly had a heart attack when he saw the army at his door led by Alubastas finest warriors. The King of course had talked the Army down and when his body guards had insisted the king come back to the palace the king had complained about Vivi having friends and he didn't.

This naturally set the guards off and ordered the army to find the princess; if showing up with an army was frightening to an adult Toto could only imagine how his son had reacted. In the end Toto, his son Vivi, the king and his body guards all sat down and came to an agreement. The king would visit Toto every three days with one of his bodyguards for afternoon tea and Vivi was allowed to keep her friendship with Toto's son.

Toto told them all he knew about the rebels and that Vivi's Childhood friend and his son was Koza was the leader. Toto had tried to sop Koza but in the end Koza had ignored his father's pleas to trust the king and when he heard that Vivi had disappeared it was the last straw. Vivi felt terrible for putting Koza through that and she was now more determined than ever to stop the rebellion.

Unfortunately Toto didn't know when and where the rebels would strike next, but he did know that the next attack was going to be the last. The rebels were going to fight to the last man, they were going to die.

Vivi wanted to leave right away however it was clear that everyone would need all there strength for the return journey. So they decided to rest for the day and set off early tomorrow morning. While the straw hats rested Vivi spent time with Toto, Zoro approached Ace.

"Hey Ace, thanks for looking after Connor for the last couple of days," Zoro said.

"No problem, he wasn't as much trouble as Luffy was at his age," Ace responded.

"Yeah I've been meaning to ask, what was Luffy like as a child?"

"Hmm that's a tough one…you know I think he might have matured a bit,"

"Seriously?" Zoro looked over at his captain to find him pulling funny faces at Chopper, Connor and Usopp.

"Hard to believe I know but he was way way way worse as a kid then he is now," Ace confirmed.

Oddly enough Zoro could believe what Ace was telling him.

"Hey about Connor, have you noticed anything out of the ordinary about him?"

Zoro stared at Ace and wounded why he would be asking this.

"Well he's defiantly too quiet for his age but there's a good reason for that," Zoro confirmed.

"That brand right. What about abilities anything strange or weird,"

"He heals fairly quickly and he seems to learn things at an alarming rate, but again that's because of the brand,"

"No devil fruit powers?"

"None, he can swim our crew has seen it on multiple occasions,"

Ace nodded and went to go stop Luffy from doing something stupid. Zoro watched him go; he had purposely left out Connors second sight. Zoro liked Ace; he knew about the brand and understood why the straw hats wanted the fruit that put it there. However he was not going to tell Ace about Connors eyes, when Zoro had first told Luffy it was out of concern that Connor could be dangerous to the crew.

And now that he knew the boy better his concern was unwarranted, it was also clear that Connor did not like talking about it. Hell he was sure if Luffy had never tried to catch that giant bird Connor would have kept it from them.

* * *

That night while the Straw hats were sleeping in one of the many abandoned inns Connor got up and snuck out. If any of the Straw hats had woken up they would not have worried about it as Conner got up every night due to nightmares. Ace however did not know this and followed Connor.

Because the inns were abandoned some of the straw hats had decided to sleep separate rooms from the rest of the group. Nami and Vivi shared a room, Usopp Chopper and Connor shared a room with Ace. Zoro and Sanji both took separate rooms on their own and Luffy was helping Toto dig water.

Connor left the inn and wandered outside, he walked quickly to another inn not too far away. Ace curiously followed from a distance and peered through a broken window watching the boy. Connor was talking on a White baby Den-Den Mushi. Ace wondered what he was doing with a baby Den-Den Mushi in the first place; he listened in as Connor told whoever was on the other end that he was in Yuba and everything Toto had told the Straw hats.

"We're leaving tomorrow back to Kotarea. I just thought you'd like an update," Connor said into the speaker.

"I see and no one suspects you," the voice asked.

"No one, they have no reason too,"

"Good make sure it stays that way, we'll get in touch with our agents pass on this information. Keep up the good work," and the call ended.

Ace paled at what he had heard was Connor working for the Baroque works? Was he a spy? It was certainly plausible, Ace needed to warn Luffy and Vivi about this. He took a step back but crushed some glass beneath his boot.

Conner heard something out side and immediately hurried around; he scanned the windows and found nothing out of the ordinary. He dashed out side and found nothing, Connor activated his second sight but it reviled nothing.

Connor headed back to the inn where the rest of the straw hats were sleeping and snuck back into the boy's room. Activating his second sight again he saw that everyone one was still in their beds, though one of them was glowing a bright red; it was Ace. Connor narrowed his eyes at Ace he'd hadn't seen Ace through his sight before and if he never felt the need; Ace was Luffy's brother and Connor trusted Luffy so he assumed that Ace would appeared blue as well.

Connor knew he could not do anything about it so he went back to bed. Ace however snapped his eyes open and looked at Connor with a frightened expression; he'd seen his glowing eyes. There was only one group in the entire world that had eyes like that and they were exceptionally dangerous.

* * *

The next morning Ace confronted Luffy about Connor and what he'd seen.

"You're lying, Connor would never hurt me or anyone else," Luffy claimed.

"Lu I want to believe that but I saw him, I heard him talk to someone on a snail phone," Ace argued back

"Well you were wrong,"

Zoro and Sanji came in at that moment.

"Luffy were ready to…is something wrong?" Sanji asked.

"Ace thinks Connor is a Baroque Works spy," Luffy claimed.

Zoro and Sanji blinked and then burst out laughing. This frustrated Ace here he was trying to protect his brother and no one believed him.

"I'm telling you he's a spy for Baroque works. The voice on the phone said they'd pass the information he gave them onto their agents,"

"Ace Connor can't be a spy," Zoro instead.

"How do you know he wasn't planted amongst your crew?"

"Because he's been with us since the East Blue," Luffy claimed.

"What? He's been with you that long,"

"Let's say for augments sake that your right and he is a spy" Sanji said "why would he have joined us in the East Blue before we met Vivi?"

"Obviously to gain your trust," Ace answered.

"Okay then. Why did Mr 0 put him on a hit list with Vivi if he was an agent?"

"Maybe to throw you off so you wouldn't suspect him,"

"Fine, then how did Connor dial the number on the Snail phone?"

"Come on it's a snail phone anyone can work one,"

"Ace Connor can't read, how could he have died a number if he can't read them?"

"He can't read?"

Luffy Zoro and Sanji shook their heads.

"Okay then what about getting up in the middle of the night, that's not normal," Ace urged.

"For him it is, Connor suffers from terrible nightmares. They wake him up every night; he normally goes outside for a few hours before coming back to bed,"

"What about the glowing yellow eyes. How do you explain that?"

"His second sight, that proves nothing,"

"Hold on you all knew about that?"

"Of course we do,"

"Ace just drop it Connor isn't a spy for anyone," Zoro said "I was the first to find out about his second sight and I thought he was dangerous too. But I was just being paranoid and I soon realised it,"

Before Ace could answer Nami came in and demanded that they get going. Ace decided that he would drop the subject for now and keep a very close eye on the boy. After all his little brother was now in great danger; if he caught the boy trying anything then he would stop him by any means necessary.

They said goodbye to Toto and the old man gave Luffy some water that he had dug up as a parting gift. The group then headed out into the dessert again. Ace's focus was solely on Connor he was watching the boy carefully, Sanji and was walking next to him and every so often would send a glare towards Ace.

"Connor," Luffy called to the boy, he'd had enough of the glaring competition between Ace and Sanji.

Connor shifted his attention to Luffy "Yes," he said.

"Your brand makes you do anything I say right?"

Connor froze and stared at Luffy "Yes it does and anyone else under your command,"

"So what happens if you don't obey?"

"It…It causes me great pain until I submit to your will," Connor said fearfully.

"Luffy what are you doing? Connor already told us this," Nami warned, but Luffy ignored her.

"Connor I order you to tell me the truth, are you a spy for the Baroque works?"

"No," Connor answered.

Everyone's jaw dropped, Ace should have expected this and he was surprised when Luffy just blurted it out. Zoro and Sanji covered their eyes in annoyance, Usopp Chopper and Vivi stared at Luffy in horror for ever suggesting such a thing and Nami lost it.

"IDIOT!" She yelled "HOW COULD YOU EVER THINK THAT ABOUT HIM!"

"I don't but Ace dose," Luffy gestured to his brother "I just wanted to prove that he was wrong,"

Nami walked over to Ace and Ace smiled sheepishly; Nami punched him several times on the head. When she was done Ace had several large bumps on his head,

"You know I can see how you tow are related now. You're both idiots," Nami snapped.

Ace rubbed his sore head; he was surprised that Nami had hit him and even more that it had hurt. He was a Logia type user; he wasn't supposed to be affected by attacks like that. He then watched Luffy talk to Connor.

"Sorry I know that was uncomfortable and you don't like talking about that mark of yours, but I needed Ace to understand that you couldn't be a spy,"

"Why dose Ace think I'm a spy?" Connor asked.

"He says he saw you get up and taking into a snail phone last night,"

"But I always get up at night and don't know how those things work. I can't read how would I work a snail phone?"

"I know; Zoro Sanji and I tried to tell him that but he didn't believe us,"

"Luffy make him tell me where he got his second sight from" Ace requested, that earned him another punch from Nami.

"I don't want to make him do stuff he's not comfortable with," Luffy complained.

"THEN WHAT WAS THAT BEFORE?" Usopp yelled.

"Ace needed to know what would happen if Connor lied," Luffy claimed.

"Luffy please I need to know where he got his sight from,"

"If I make him tell you will you stop suspecting him?"

"Yes," Ace claimed.

"Fine, sorry about this Connor. I want you to tell Ace everything you know about your second sight,"

Connor sighed and went over to Ace and did as Luffy commanded, he didn't like it but he really had no choice. After Connor was finished he went back to Sanji; Ace suddenly felt extremely guilty and stupid…but mostly guilty. He had made his brother make one of his friends reveal something very personal to a complete stranger, he knew from personal experience just how uncomfortable that could be.

They continued on through the dessert until Luffy suddenly sat down. The straw hats kept walking and it was Usopp who noticed Luffy was no longer among them.

"Luffy what are you doing, we have to get going," Usopp urged.

The rest of the straw hats stopped and looked at Luffy.

"I quit," Luffy declared.

"What?" Nami asked.

"I quit, I'm done trying to stop this rebellion,"

"Luffy we don't have time for this. We need to get back to Kotareia, It's for Vivi-chan," Sanji said.

"That won't stop anything so why bother?"

"Because over a million people are about to fight to the death," Vivi reminded him.

"So people die all the time. Vivi your fooling yourself if you think you can stop this war without anyone getting hurt or dying,"

"But if we get to the rebels I can stop them," Vivi argued back.

"But that won't stop Crocodile will it? If the rebellion doesn't happen then he'll just try something else. The only way for anyone to win this war is to beat up Crocodile,"

The straw hats stared at Luffy; it was rare that he made sense.

"No it's too dangerous if we stop the rebellion then…"

"You want to stop them then you're on your own, I came to beat up Crocodile and that's what I'm going to do. Go play diplomat if you want but don't expect any more help from us," Luffy claimed.

Vivi and the straw hats stared at Luffy, he'd just told Vivi she was on her own from now on.

"Hold on Luffy Connors still on Crocodiles hit list," Usopp reminded him.

"Luffy try to understand this from Vivis point of view," Nami urged.

"I'm well aware that Connor is still in danger and that's why I want to beat Crocodile up. As for Vivi I never understand the point of view from a coward,"

Vivi snapped and slapped Luffy across the face, the force sent Luffy flying. Luffy however got back up and punched Vivi back, knocking her down. Nami tried to intervene and stop the fight but Sanji stopped her.

"What's wrong with not wanting people to die? No one should get hurt due to Crocodiles evil," Vivi cried out getting back up. She then talked Luffy to the ground and hit him over and over in the face.

"Then why are you risking your life to stop him?" Luffy asked, grabbing Vivis arms preventing her from hitting him again.

"BECAUSE I HAVE NOTHING ELSE TO RISK! There's no one but me who could stop this war," Vivi finally admitted.

"TRY RISKING OUR LIVES AS WELL," Luffy yelled at her "WE'RE NAKAMA AFTER ALL,"

Vivi stared at Luffy in shock, she got off him and Luffy sat up. "Vivi you're the one suffering the most let us help you. If you really don't want anyone to die then Stop crocodile before he has a chance to start the fighting,"

"W…Would you all do that for me? Why would you throw your lives away for me," Vivi asked in shock.

"Simple really we're friends," Luffy said with his trademark grin.


	16. Alabaster Pt 7

_**A.n I own Nothing**_

 _ **Please Review**_

* * *

The walk to Rainbase was thankfully much shorter than the trek back to Kotarea; instead of another seven days in the dessert it was only two. After Luffys and Vivis fight Luffy had more energy and didn't complain about the heat that much, Chopper had also finally adapted to the heat and no longer needed to be carried.

Thankfully no one got lost or separated this time around. At night Ace would still warm up the tents so no one would freeze. He still kept a close eye on Connor but the boy had done nothing suspicious, he woke up the first night and left the tent; Ace opened the tent a bit and watched Connor sit just outside by where the campfire was.

Connor had wrapped his blanket around him to shield him from the cold; he was just sitting there staring at the stars. He came back into the tent an hour later shivering though he did not go back to sleep for a while.

The Next day was just like the first except there journey led them through a rocky cliffs, the large cliffs provided shade so it was a lot cooler. They were also attacked by a giant scorpion, Ace cooked it in one blow; as soon as the tail was cut off the straw hats ate it for lunch. Nami didn't want to eat it and was very surprised when Vivi had a large chunk of it.

"This type of Scorpion is considered a delicacy in Alabasta, we're very lucky," Vivi explained.

"Really scorpion meat is a delicacy?" Nami asked.

"Oh yes, because of how hard it is to kill only the richest families can afford this kind of meat. If we run into any more we should defiantly eat them," Vivi suggested.

Ironically they later found a huge nest of giant Scorpions while Vivi decided that traveling to close to a nest was dangerous and the straw hats ended up being chased by at least thirty or more scorpions. They were defeated pretty quickly; the meat was saved and added to their supplies.

Dinner was very good that night.

* * *

That night when Connor woke up he didn't go outside instead he just sat up and pulled out the white Den-Den mushi. He thought back to last night when he had contacted the mysterious voice on the other end.

 _Flashback_

" _There's been a change in plans, we're headed to Rainbase now," Connor spoke into the receiver._

" _Why," the mystery voice demanded._

" _Luffy wants to fight Crocodile before the rebels' final attack,"_

" _A sound plan, our agents will be in place before you arrive. By the way I don't like to be lied too,"_

" _Lied? I haven't lied to you,"_

" _You said no one suspects you, but I know that Fire Fist Ace dose. So I say again I don't like to be lied too,"_

" _I…what do you want me to do?"_

" _Throw off suspicion; plant this phone on one of your crew,"_

" _But…"_

" _If you don't our deal is off and the straw hats will be added to the body count…we will make you watch as we kill them," the voice threatened._

" _Okay, no problem," Connor claimed and ended the call._

 _End flashback_

Connor had spent the day thinking about which member to plant the phone on, the obvious choice was Luffy. But if he was going to fight Crocodile then the snail pone could easily get destroyed or fall off. Nami and Usopp were out of the question, Nami was too perceptive and Usopp would never go near Crocodile. Chopper had no pockets and he had no desire to put Vivi in anymore danger; that left Zoro, Sanji and Ace.

Ace already suspected him and if he found the snail phone then the plan would fail and that was not an option. Connor had no doubt that Sanji would be a good choice however if either Nami or Vivi got into trouble he'd rush off to save them. Zoro would no doubt follow Luffy straight to Crocodile and because Crocodile is likely to have the strongest partner in Baroque Works Zoro would no doubt want to fight whoever that was.

Connor made his choice, he had no desire to do this but lives were at stake and if he didn't they would be forfeit; he'd likely lose Zoros trust afterwards but if that was the price then he'd pay it. Connor grabbed his blanket and made his way over to Zoro, he switched to his second sight just to double check that Zoro was still blue and he was. Connor lightly nudged Zoro's arm to wake him.

Zoro felt something touch his arm and his eyes snapped open, he glared at what he thought was an enemy but when he saw it was just Connor the glare disappeared.

"Kid what's wrong?" Zoro asked in concern. He knew Connor always got up at night but he'd never woken any of the crew up before.

"I had a really bad nightmare and it's too cold to go outside. Can I sleep next to you?" Connor asked in a desperate voice.

Zoro stared at the boy, this was defiantly new and if Connor had come to him then Zoro was not going to turn him away.

"Sure," Zoro moved over to make room. Connor lay down next to him with his blanket, and moved in close to Zoro.

"Do you want to talk about your nightmare?" Zoro asked.

Connor shook his head, "If you want to talk just let me know, night kid," Zoro said and went back to sleep.

Connor however did not go back to sleep, he waited until Zoro's had completely relaxed, he pulled out the baby Den-Den Mushi and placed it in Zoros pants pocket near where his swords are normally kept, this way he would not notice the extra weight.

Connor tried to go back to sleep but found he could not, he just listened to Zoros snoring, it was really loud up close.

Suddenly Zoro's wrapped his arm around Connor' waist and pulled the boy even closer to him. Connor froze at the movement and was now right up against Zoro's chest; he could hear Zoros hart beat. Connor was extremely uncomfortable memories of a certain incident that he'd like nothing more than to forget came flooding back; it was taking all his will power to not push out of Zoro's arms and run away from the man. Connor found himself shaking but it wasn't from the cold it was his body reacting to how close he was to Zoro.

'Damn it stop shaking,' he mentally scolded himself 'This isn't that Island and he's not that man,' He knew Zoro was not that man and would never force himself on him but he could not stop himself from curling into a ball.

* * *

The next morning Zoro woke up to something leaning on his chest. He opened his eyes and found it was Connor; he was curled in a ball and whimpering softly. Zoro had no idea why he was so close to him, he knew that the boy did not like to be touched; it was only then that he noticed that his arms were around Connors shaking form.

"S***," Zoro hissed and instantly let go of the boy. The moment he did Connors eyes snapped open and he moved away from Zoro.

"Kid I'm sorry, I…" Zoro started but stopped when he saw the pure terror in the boys' eyes. Connor was still shaking even though he had moved away from him.

Zoro got up and made his way over to Usopp, Aware that Connor was watching his every move.

"Usopp wake up," Zoro said and shock the sniper awake.

Usopp mumbled something and looked at Zoro's distressed face.

"Zoro what's wrong?" Usopp asked sleepily.

"I need your help, look," Zoro said and pointed at Connor. Usopp looked at Connor and his face paled when he saw the terrified boy.

Usopp got up and slowly made his way over to Connor, but the closer he got the further Connor tried to move away.

"Zoro wake Nami," Usopp ordered.

Zoro nodded and did what he was told, Nami was annoyed to woken up but the moment she saw Connor she went over to him. Unlike Zoro and Usopp Connor did not try to get away from Nami in fact he clinged to her robe and refused to let go. Nami had Zoro and Usopp wake everyone else and soon Connor was surrounded by a very concerned pirate crew. He hid his face in Namis robes clearly frightened.

"Everyone but Chopper out," Nami ordered.

The straw hats instantly left Ace and Vivi as well. Outside Ace had no idea what was going on he tried asking Luffy about it but Luffy gave him a look that said "Don't" Vivi was just as confused as Ace was. Suddenly Chopper came out as well

"Is he okay?" Luffy asked.

"I don't know he won't let me near him," Chopper said.

"VIVI COULD YOU COME IN HERE PLEASE" Nami shouted from inside the tent.

The crew looked at Vivi, wondering why Nami wanted her. Vivi had no idea what was going on or she could help but went back inside the tent.

"Nami what's going on? Why is Connor suddenly scared of everyone?" Vivi asked concerned.

"I don't know, I'm going to talk to the others but…" she answered and looked at Connor, he still hadn't let go of Namis robe.

"Okay I'll stay with him," Vivi said understanding what Nami wanted her to do.

"Thanks Vivi, you're a good friend," Nami said and turned her attention to Connor. "Connor I need a word with the others, Vivis going to sit with you okay?"

Connor stared at Nami; his eyes were begging her not to leave.

"It won't be long, please let go of my robe," Nami requested.

Connor did so reluctantly and Nami stood up and headed out of the tent, before she left she turned to Vivi.

"Usopp usually tells him stories to get his mind of things. Surly your country has a legend or two you could tell him," Nami suggested and left.

Vivi sat down next to Connor. Alabasta certainly had it fair share of legends, most were about heroic warriors slaying sand monsters. She doubted that those would help, Vivi thought back to her childhood; whenever she was scared her father told her about Alabasters guardian spirt.

"Connor do you know that Alabasta has an immortal protector?" Vivi asked and began to tell him the Legend of Alabastars secret guardian.

* * *

Outside Nami looked over the boys, they were discussing what could of happened to Connor; it was clear that they were worried.

"Okay what happened?" she demanded.

"I think it might be my fault," Zoro admitted.

Nami shifted her attention to Zoro "Well?"

"Last night the Kid woke me up, claimed he had a bad nightmare. He didn't want to talk about it and asked if he could sleep next to me," Zoro explained.

"That's never happened before," Sanji pointed out.

"I know, normally I'd give him his space but he came to me so I wasn't going to turn him away. I woke up this morning holding him. He was shaking in fear,"

"Why were you holding him?" Luffy asked seriously.

"I probably just rolled over and grabbed him in my sleep," Zoro reasoned.

"That explains why he's so frighted this morning, last night would've been hell for him," Usopp realised.

"But that doesn't explain why he won't let me near him, I just want to make sure he's not hurt," Chopper claimed.

"Actually it does," Sanji said "it's the same reason why we're not in there now. We're all boys,"

"So what does that have to do with anything," Chopper asked.

"It just means you lot need to keep your distance for the next couple of days," Nami said.

"So, this kid freaks out and now he'll only let girls near him," Ace stated "aren't you over reacting just a little bit? I mean it's not like Zoro raped him or anything right?"

All but Chopper glared at Ace and Zoro looked down in shame. Ace suddenly realised that he hit a nerve amongst the crew.

"Wait you didn't did you?" Ace asked in disbelief.

"No, but to him I might as well have," Zoro claimed.

"Ace it was a man that did it and Connor was four," Luffy said.

Ace was horrified and Choppers jaw dropped. Why hadn't Luffy told him, this explained the nightmares and why Connor was quiet.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME? I'M THE SHIPS DOCTOR THERE COULD BE LASTING DAMAGE," Chopper yelled at Luffy.

"It happened nine years ago, and any physical damage done would have been healed by the brand long ago. Besides it's not something that we can just talk about," Luffy explained "It took a lot for him to trust us and I have no desire to lose that trust,"

"We still need to get to Rainbase and deal with Crocodile, I'll keep an eye on him today," Nami said "And not one word to Vivi about what happed got it,"

* * *

The straw hats had finally made it to Rainbase, the last few hours had been a little awkward for everyone.

As soon as they arrived on the outskirts of Rainbase both Luffy and Usopp ran off to find some water. Nami sighed and hoped that they would not get into too much trouble. They found a shady spot to rest under while they waited for Luffy and Usopp to come back, Chopper wandered off to take a leek.

Nami sat beside Connor the entire time, he'd calmed down a quite a bit but was still not up to interacting with the crew. He was very grateful that Nami was with him, every now and then he looked over at the other members; his eyes would flash gold for a spilt second and then he'd look away.

"He's been doing that an awful lot today, he did while we were walking through the desert too," Sanji pointed out.

"Yeah but can you blame him?" Zoro responded.

"No, though every time he does it I can't help but wonder what he sees,"

"I know but if it makes him feel safer, let him do it. I just hope I'm not red again,"

"You've been red before? I thought we all appeared blue to him," Ace interrupted.

"Yeah it was when we first met. He told me that I first appeared red to him but changed to blue later," Zoro claimed.

"You could ask him what colour you are now," Ace suggested.

"Nah, he probably doesn't want to talk to me right now," Zoro claimed.

Suddenly Luffy and Usopp dashed past them carrying barrels of water. "RUN!" they both screamed.

The straw hats looked back in the direction that they had come form and saw a group of marines led by Smoker heading their way. The straw hats ran through the town causing a ruckus soon it was not only the marines chasing them but the Baroque works millions too.

"Vivi where's crocodile?" Luffy asked.

"There, see that building with the Crocodile head," Vivi pointed to the tallest building "That's his main base,"

"Okay everyone split up and meet there," Luffy ordered.

The straw hats split into three groups Zoro and Vivi darted down an ally, Nami and Usopp wet down the next street, Ace and Luffy went up to the rooftops followed by Smoker and Sanji and Connor kept running straight ahead.

* * *

Chopper who had gone to find a bathroom came back and was surprised to find the crew missing; he sniffed the air and caught a whiff of Namis perfume. He was about to head off in pursuit when a familiar voice called his name.

"Chopper long time no see," a male voice called.

Chopper turned and was surprised to see who it was.

"Jacob, Evie what are you two doing here?"

"We're in town on business, are the rest of the gang here too?" Evie asked.

"Yup we're here to take down Crocodile. Though I've seem to lost the others,"

The twins looked at each other and smiled.

"We'll help you find them," Jacob offered.

"Really thanks," Chopper said happily "Oh Evie should probably look for Connor though,"

"Why?" Evie asked.

"He just seems more comfortable around girls today,"

"I'm hurt that he doesn't want me around but as a man I can't help but respect his preference," Jacob joked.

"Well you did stab him," Evie pointed out.

"Yes thank you for reminding me, sweet sister of mine,"

"Any time baby brother," Evie said and ran off to look for Connor.

"One minute Evie you're older by one minute!" Jacob shouted after her.

Evie ran across the rooftops looking for any sign of Connor, she figured Jacob would be alright with Chopper. Suddenly she heard fighting coming from one of the back alleys and followed it too the source. Below her were Sanji and Connor fighting off both marines and civilians. Evie guessed that the civilians were Baroque Works millions. There were quite a number of people knocked out, Evie knew that these too could easily take both groups out but she had a faster way.

"Sanji, Connor jump," She called.

Sanji and Connor looked up to see Evie above them she threw two small balls into the crowd. Sanji grabbed Connor and jumped up into the air, as soon as the balls hit the ground an electrical current struck both marines and billons. They all collapsed to the ground hair standing on up. Sanji landed and put Connor down, he looked over the two groups; Evie jumped down from the roof and approached them.

"Hey you two okay?" she asked.

"Evie-swan have you came all this way to see me, I knew you liked me," Sanji said happily, his eyes had turned into harts and smaller harts were coming out of his head.

"Well he hasn't changed," Evie muttered.

"Evie you're here, where's Jacob?" Connor asked looking around for the younger twin.

"Looking for the rest of your crew with Chopper," Evie answered "Come on let's get out from the open,"

Evie led Sanji and Connor to a small house, the house was a small nicely furnished one; Evie said it had one bedroom a bathroom and a kitchen. Once inside they sat on around the kitchen table, Evie asked Sanji to make some cold drinks and Sanji was happy to oblige.

"So do you and Jacob live here?" Connor asked.

"No, it belongs to a friend, but they let us stay here whenever we're in town," Evie explained. "He owns a shop in Nanohana; this is his holiday home,"

Sanji came over with the ready made drinks, and Evie was surprised that he had made a fruit punch; he gave Connor his claiming it to be the only non-alcoholic one. Evie was about to drink hers when Jacob walked through the door with Chopper.

"Sanji, Connor," Jacob greeted and took Evie's drink and skulled it. "Whew that it the spot, man that's nice,"

Sanjis' jaw dropped and he yelled at Jacob "HOW DARE YOU, THAT WAS MY SPECIAL DRINK OF LOVE. IT WAS SUPPOSED TO DRUNK BY EVIE-SWAN!"

Jacob raised his eyebrow at this "Did the desert heat fry your brain or something?"

"No he's always like this," Chopper and Connor said at the same time.

"Right well about your friends they've been captured, along with a Marine Captain,"

"How?" Connor asked worriedly.

"They ran into the casino and management opened the VIP room for them. At the end of the corridor there was a sign that VIP left and Pirates right,"

"They went right didn't they?" Sanji sighed.

"Yeah they did. There was a trap door and they fell in with the Marine captain chasing them," Jacob was being completely serious; he was trying hard not to laugh.

Sanji and Connor sighed at there crews stupidity.

"We have to rescue them," Chopper yelled.

"But this is the Baroque Works main base, it's not like we can just ask the boss to leave it unguarded," Evie claimed.

"Actually that might not be a bad idea," Sanji said "I have an plan,"


	17. Alabaster Pt 8

_**A.n I own Nothing**_

 _ **Please Review**_

* * *

Luffy, Nami , Zoro, Usopp and Ace were trapped in a cage with Smoker. The trap had been so simple yet the straw hats had fallen(figuetvly and literary) in. Luffy claimed it couldn't be avoided and Nami had disagreed. The Cage was in a large room built underwater, there was a long table dining table and a desk in the room; stairs led to the only exit.

Zoro suggested Ace melt the bars but Ace shock his head saying that his powers were useless and warned Luffy not to touch the bars before sitting on the jail bed and leaning against the wall. Luffy naturally did the opposite and grabbed the bars, he instantly felt his strength drain away.

Smoker took the opportunity to attack Luffy, knocked him on the ground with his weapon. Once on the ground he placed the tip of the weapon on Luffys chest. Zoro unsheathed his sword and warned Smoker off, but the Marine Captain ignored him. Usopp and Nami looked to Ace for back up but the other pirate just shook his head.

"Feel that Straw hat, your strength is draining isn't it?" Smoker asked.

"What gives I can't move, why does it feel like I'm in the ocean?" Luffu panicked.

"My Jitte is tipped with a rare meatal called Kairouseki. It emits the same energy as the sea,"

"It's more commonly known as Seastone" Ace added "it's only found at the bottom of the ocean at certain points in the Grand Line,"

"So naturally it can nullify devil fruit powers and bring down their users," Smoker finished.

"Wait a second are theses bars made from this metal too?" Nami asked.

"If they weren't I would have escaped already, and Fire Fist here could easily have melted them," Smoker said and removed his Jitte from Luffys chest.

"Zoro quick slice the bars," Usopp ordered.

"Okay stand back," Zoro said and got into a stance.

"Don't bother Seastone is the most durable metal in the world, it's pretty much indestructible," Ace claimed "if you hit those bars your swords will break,"

Zoro sheathed his swords; he just got two new ones and had no desire to replace them again. "So, how do we get out?" he asked.

"We don't," Smoker said and sat down on the one bed in with Ace.

Luffys strength came back to him and with nothing else to do he started doing impersonation of people with Usopp; Smoker did his best to ignore them. Suddenly a man walked into the room, he approached the cage.

The man was tall with a wide chest, broad shoulders, muscular arms and legs, and a thick neck. He had pale skin and nape-length neatly slicked back black hair, a long stitched scar at the bridge of his nose that stretches across his face and a large hook made from a tough gold alloy in place of his left hand.

"Well, well, look what I caught a nosey pirate crew, one of Whitbeards most powerful captains and a Marine Captain," the man said.

"Crocodile let me out now," Smoker demanded.

"Crocodile? He's Crocodile," Luffy yelled "Oi you I'm going to kick your ass!"

"Charming," Crocodile said "As for your request Smoker I'll have to decline, if I let you out then they will escape too. Can't have dangous pirates roaming free now can we?"

"Your one to talk," Smoker snapped back.

"Now is that anyway to talk to your friend? We're on the same side after all,"

"We are not friends and I never have or ever will trust a Shichibukai," Smoker declared.

"Crocodile!" Vivi voice suddenly filled the room.

Crocodile and the straw hats looked towards the door, there was Miss All-Sunday with Vivi. She pushed the princess down the stairs and Crocodile walked over to her.

"Where's the boy?" he asked Miss All-Sunday.

"I couldn't find him, I have the millions searching the city for him now," Miss All-Sunday answered.

"VIVI RUN," Luffy yelled.

"Vivi? As in Nerfrti Vivi…the missing princess of Alabasta?" Smoker asked.

"No matter he'll never leave this country alive," Crocodile claimed.

"CROCODLIE DIE!" Vivi screamed and attacked him with her Peacok Slash. The Attack didn't work because where Vivi had hit turned to sand and then repaired the damage.

"Oh S***," Ace said "Vivi watch out he's a Logia type user. You can't beat him,"

"What?" Vivi replied in shock.

"That's Right I ate the Suna-Suna no Mi, you can't hurt me," Crocodile claimed "now then how shall I deal with you? Any ideas Miss All-Sunday?"

"Something painful, she did put us through a lot of trouble. Though I'd recommend you be thorough; this lot did survive that sandstorm you sent to them," Miss All-Sunday advised with a creepy smile.

"Hmm you're right…" Crocodile eyed the cage.

"Crocodile what are you planning? Why did you start this pointless war?" Vivi demanded.

Smokers eyes widened "Crocodile started the Civl war?"

"Pointless war. Simple I want something, something very old and very secret buried beneath Alabasta," Crocodile said.

"There's nothing buried here," Vivi claimed.

"Oh but there is princess and to get I will destroy this country to get it,"

"Sir it's just past noon. Operation Utopia has begun," Miss All-Sunday interrupted.

"What's that mean?" Vivi asked panickly, if it was one of Crocodiles plans then it could not be good.

"I suppose there's no harm in telling you now .Operation Utopia is the final phase of my plan to seize the throne of Alabasta," Crocodile claimed.

"First I won the support of the people, as one of the Shichibukai. Becoming a hero to them by rounding up other pirates. Seconded I founded and used Baroque Works to secretly use Dance Powder to cause a drought everywhere but the capital city and had Baroque Works agents brought Dance Powder into the country under orders from the King,"

Third I assigned several members of Baroque Works to join the royal guard to aid in smuggling Dance Powder into the palace. When the powder was found, this pushed the people into thinking their king was behind the lack of rain,"

"I also had some member join the other side as well several Baroque Works members joined the Rebls ranks, even going so far as to become close officers to their leader,"

"And finalaly thanks to Mr. 4 and Miss Merry Christmas kidnapping the king of Alabasta; Mr. 2 pretended to be the king and told the people he had used the powder. Injuring the Rebel leader in the process and now the rebel army will begen its advancement on the capital,"

Vivi was in shock fom what she'd just heard. No one in the room spoke and Crocodile laughed at his own plan. "And when both armys are together in the capital city, I'll kill them all in one fell swoop,"

"You monster millions of people will die," Vivi cried.

"Crocodile what your doing is illegal and will get your Shichibukai status revoked," Smoker warned.

Crocodile laughed "So what, who's going to tell the government? Us pirates have a saying: Dead man tell no tales,"

"No But we do," a new serious voice added in.

"What who said that?" Crocodile asked, he looked around the room for another person but could not see anyone.

"Where's that coming from? Miss All Sunday wondered.

"Over here in the cage," the voice claimed.

Crocodile, Miss All-Sunday and Vivi looked towards the cage, but here was nothing out of the ordinary. Inside the Cage the Straw hats looked at each other, the voice didn't belong to any of them.

"Who are you? Show yourself," Crocodile demanded.

"Very well, Roannoa Zoro if you could reach into your pocket please," the voice asked.

Everyone in the room turned their eyes to Zoro. Zoro froze how did that voice know his name, he put his hands into his pants pooket and pulled out a baby white Den-Den Mushi. Ace recognised it as the one he'd seen Connor use.

"What the hell is this?" Zoro asked, he stared at it.

"Greetings Crocodile, thank you for revealing your plan; now we have all the information that we need. We have long suspected that you were behind the Civil war and the cause of the drought," the snail phone spoke.

"I don't know who you are but I will find you and kill you," Crocodile threatened.

"No you won't, we will get to you first. Also this snail phone has a recording function; it's been on this entire time,"

Crocodile froze, that meant whoever was on the other line had a record of what he'd just said.

"Tell me who you are," he demanded.

To be honest the rest of the room's occupants were wondering the same thing.

"I am the leader and Mentor of the Brotherhood and you Crocodile are my next target. Be honed, not many get to speak with me before they die," the voice said.

Ace and Smoker immediately jumped to their feet, and focused solely on the snail; neither of them wanted to miss a word. The other straw hats were confused by Smokers and Ace's reaction they had no idea who this Brotherhood was or what they did.

Crocodile froze and took a step back in fear "No…No. Your bluffing, you can't be in this country. I would have known,"

"I have had my people stained here for the past three years; did you honestly think it was a coincidence that only four pairs of numbered agents attended your little meeting yesterday?"

Crocodiles eyes widened, he thought it was strange that he'd lost contact with most of the numbered pairs in the last week. But he never suspected the Brotherhood was behind it.

"Weather the rebels or the Royal army wins this fight one thing is certain You Will Lose. We know what's buried beneath the sand and we will never let you have it, I'll see you very soon," the Snail phone clicked indicting the end of the call.

Vivi stared at the snail phone, she had never seen Crocodile afried of anything. Just who was that on the other end. The Straw hats were just as surprised as Vivi, if whoever that was could make him so frighted then perhaps they'd help them.

"Man I do not envy that guy," Ace commented.

"Agreed, Crocodile won't last the next 24 hours," Smoker confirmed and looked straight at Zoro "Just one thing, how did you get that snail phone?"

"I don't know I've never seen it before in my life," Zoro claimed.

"Zoro was that a friend of yours?" Luffy asked.

"If I knew someone who could take down a Shiibaki do you honestly think I would not have mentioned them?"

"So where did you get it? Did Connor give it to you?" Ace asked.

"Don't start that again," Nami hissed.

Crocodile suddenly slammed his Claw hand into the ground when he pulled it out water stated to come thogh it. He then went over to his desk and pushed a secret button.

"I'm flooding this chamber and letting my pets in, good bye princess," Crocodile said and climbed the stairs. He got half way up when another den-Den Mushi rang, for a moment Crocodile feared it was the Brotherhood again; thankfully it was Miss All-Sundays phone.

"Yes," Miss All-Sunday answered.

"Hello, Hello. Is this thing on? Can anyone hear me?" Sanji voice came through.

"Yes it's on do you have a report?"

"Ah good I've never used a baby Mushi before, so I wasn't sure,"

"Hurry up and report," Crocodile ordered.

"Now there's a voice I recognise, long time no talk Mr 0. Or should I call you Crocodile?"

Crocodile froze, he thought of all the people that knew his identity. All the agents he told were out in Missions, Miss Sunday was here with him and Vivi and these pirates were here as well. That left the boy and supposedly the leader of the Brotherhood.

"Who are you?" Crocodile asked.

"Me…You can call me Mr Prince,"

"Mr Prince?"

"PRINCE HELP US, CROCODLIE IS GOING TO KILL US!" Nami yelled out.

Crocodile eyed the cage and remembered all the faces Mr 2 had shown him; apart from the animal pet all the straw hats were here…weren't they?

"Oh it seems my crew is still alive…that's your first big mistake," Mr Prince said.

"Where are you?"

"I'm not going to tell you that, you'll come and kill me…But weather you can or not remains to be seen, so I guess I'll…"

Bang, a gunshot rang out and the sound of a body hitting the ground was heard.

"Hello boss? Sorry about that but we finally go the bastard," a new voice said.

"Who are you?" Miss All-Sunday asked.

"I'm one of the Millions stationed in this town. Mr Prince took out a lot of our guys but he's down now,"

"Where are you?"

"Just out the front of Rain Dinners casino. What should I do with this scumbag?"

"Empty your gun into his head," Crocodile ordered, several more shots were heard and when they stopped crocodile left the room.

"Sanji…"Vivi gasped.

"Vivi Watch out!" Zoro suddenly yelled as giant Crocodiles with banana crowns began to enter the room.

* * *

 _Outside of Rainbase Casino_

Sanji and Jacob were hiding on the side of the building, a dead million lay at their feet he had six holes in his head.

"Was it necessary to kill him?" Sanji asked.

"Relax those were blanks, I shot them purely for sound effects," Jacob assured.

"Right, think they'll come out?"

"See for yourself," Jacob said and pointed to the bridge; Both Crocodile and Miss All-Sunday were crossing it.

"Aright lets go save the princess," Sanji said.

"And your crew right?" Jacob reminded him.

"Huh oh right I suppose if they're in the same room and if there's time,"

"Let's just hope that Vivi isn't in another Castle," Jacob joked.

* * *

Crocodile and Miss All-Sunday left the Casino to go and see this Mr Prince. Miss All-Sunday warned him about being in the open, not just because the Brotherhood was now after him but because the Millions did not know his identity. Once outside Crocodile saw a lot of Millions lying in front of his Casio, the pair crossed the bridge and approached the body's.

"Well this is awkward, he's taken out almost all of our men," Miss Sunday giggled.

"Boss, he went that way," one million managed to point out a large finger in a blue desert robe, failing to hide behind a corner.

Crocodile saw him and the figure ran, the Shichibukai chased after him, Miss All-Sunday was about to follow when a loud crash came from behind her, she turned around and found that the bridge leading into the Casino had been destroyed. She looked at the crowd gathering on the far side and noticed two figures walk into the Casino.

"So there trying to keep us out are they?" Miss All-Sunday smirked; this Mr Prince is smarter than he looks.

Both Crocodile and Miss All Sunday failed to notice the two figures hiding in one of the alleys nearby watching.

"There in," Evie said.

"Will they be okay?" Connor asked.

"Don't worry Jacob will get them out safe," Evie reassured Connor "Now let's go make sure Crocodile doesn't kill Chopper,"

Both Connor and Evie headed off down the Ally to follow Chopper.

Chopper was able to flee form Crocodile and thanks to his tiny hybrid form he was able to safely get away from the angry Shichibukai. He met up with Connor and Evie, to discuss the next step.

"Luffy and the others will still want to stop this rebellion right?" Evie asked.

"Yes, Luffy will undoubtedly go after Crocodile but Vivi will head to where the final battle is," Connor claimed.

"Then you need to get to Alubama before dawn tomorrow if you want stop this rebellion,"

"Is it far?" Chopper asked.

"It's directly east from here, you need to cross the Sandora river to get there,"

"What but we don't have time to make the journey back to the our ship, let alone cross the dessert again," Chopper pointed out.

"I know, I'm sorry but you won't make it in time," Evie apologised.

Suddenly a camel approached them and made some angry noises.

"Oh hi Eyelashes, sorry about ditching you earlier," Chopper said.

Eyelashes eyed Evie and nodded in approval with a dirty smirk he then spoke to Chopper.

"Is that yours?" Evie asked.

"Yeah we picked him up in the dessert, he's a massive pervert though," Connor explained.

"What really? And he'll let us ride him…even the boys?" Chopper quickly cried.

"Chopper what did that camel say?" Evie asked.

"Eyelashes says' he's friends with a Sand Crab that lives in the area, he says that he'll convince him to give us a lift to Alubana," Chopper explained.

"Sand Crabs are incredibly fast…you might just make it in time," Evie claimed "Alright Chopper you go with Eyelashes to get a ride. Connor and I will inform the rest of the crew and meet you on the eastern side of the City,"

"Right, lead the way eyelashes," Chopper requested and ran off with the camel. Connor and Evie began to make their way back to the Casino.

They approached the still destroyed entrance just in time to see Crocodile and Miss Sunday enter the casino, before they could figure out how those two got across the lake; the ground suddenly shook and Connor lost his balance.

"What was that?" Connor asked and looked up at Evie. He gasped; Evies eyes had turned bright gold.

'Her eyes…are they like mine?' Connor thought.

"This way hurry," Evie said and ran off.

Connor followed, he wanted to question Evie and but now was not the time. They followed the path and stopped directly behind the Casino a second later Nami and Vivi's heads broke the surface, the girls climbed ashore. The next to surface was Usopp and Sanji; they were supporting Luffy who was coughing up water. Jacob was the next to appear with Ace, the Whiteberd pirate was in no better state then his brother. Finally Zoro appeared and hauled Smoker ashore.

Connor stared at the crew; they were all out of breath and gasping for air. Evie ran to her brother to help him. Ace could not believe that Jacob had saved him, he always thought the man was a cold blooded murderer; he noticed Evie was here now too. Similar thoughts were going through Smokers head about Zoro.

The straw hats slowly got up and thanked Jacob for his help. Connor was staring at Smoker the Marine Captain had just noticed that he was here.

"Zoro why did you save Smoker," Usopp asked.

"Shut it, I didn't want too," Zoro claimed "that was probably our best and only chance to get rid of him,"

"Everyone, we need to get to Alubana right away," Vivi said.

"Right," the rest of the crew agreed.

"Count us in too," Jacob added "Right sis?"

"Right, there's no way you're leaving us behind," Evie claimed.

"I have no idea what you two are doing here but I suppose we could use the help," Vivi admitted "Thank you both,"

"Roanoa Zoro," Smoker said and thrust his Jitte at Zoro. Zoro managed to block it with his sword; and the straw hats got into a defensive stance.

"Why did you save me?" Smoker asked and lowed his weapon.

"I was just following the captain's orders. When the room broke from the pressure Luffy asked me to save you,"

"Straw hat did? Why aren't we enemies,"

"Who knows what goes through that brain of his, I stopped trying to figure it out a long time ago," Zoro finished.

Smoker eyed Luffy and the rest of his friends, his eyes lingered on Connor and the Frye twins, he knew that his men would be here any minute…but he owed these pirates his life. And something wasn't right with this country and as much as he hated to admit it the straw hats might be the only hope of saving it.

"Go, but next time we meet I will bring you all down," Smoker said.

The Straw hats took the hint and dashed off down the street, Ace and Zoro stopped when they realised that Luffy wasn't following them.

"You know," Luffy said looking into smokers eyes "I don't hate you,"

Smoker stared at the pirate and yelled at him to leave, which Luffy was happy to do. They caught up with the others.

"Follow me we need to meet up with Chopper," Evie said and led the straw hats to the eastern outskirts of the city.

When they arrived Chopper was waiting for them with a giant Crab he and eyelashes were riding on it. The straw hats could not believe their luck, as Chopper explained that the crab was friends with eyelashes but they were both perverts.

Once the straw hats, the Frye twins, Ace and Vivi were on the crab sped into the dessert at a very fast pace. Just when Vivi thought that they were safe and that they'd make it in time, a golden Claw grabbed her pulling her back towards the city. Luffy was the first to notice, he jumped up and grabbed Vivi and threw her back towards the crab; Zoro caught her.

"Get her home," Luffy ordered as he was pulled back towards the city "stop this war and get her home, I meet you in Alubana!"

Chopper was going to go back but Zoro made him keep going.

"Luffy will take care of them, we've got a war to stop," he claimed.

"But…" Vivi started.

"Listen Vivi you're the only one who can stop this war. No matter what happens to us, you need to live. As long as you're alive Crocodile can't win," Zoro said seriously.

Vivi nodded in agreement she knew that Zoro was right, but she didn't like it. The crab sped on and even though Luffy was left behind the group was even more determined to get to Alubana.

Two minutes Connor felt his brand pulse; his eyes widened and looked back in the direction of Rainbase.

"No," he whispered in despair.

His brand only pulsed to signify a change in ownership; Luffy had been defeated and was most likely dead.

He looked over at Zoro, his new Master.


	18. Alabaster Pt 9

_**A.n I own nothing**_

 _ **Please Review**_

* * *

The Sand Crab sped across the dessert at high speeds carrying some unusual but desperate passengers; there was a very serious atmosphere around them. At the speed they were going it was likely that they would reach the capital city in no time. Usopp was trying to lighten the mood by telling everyone why crabs walk sideways, it was because of him. Only Chopper was paying attention, Ace walked over to Zoro and the swordsman looked up at him.

"Worried about your brother?" Zoro asked.

"Always," Ace answered.

"You're not the only one,"

"Yeah I know…Hey do you still have that baby Den-Den Mushi?" Ace asked.

Zoro reached into his pocket and fond the Snail phone, it was wet and soggy; he handed it to Ace. Ace looked at it and sighed, the snail was dead.

"What did you want t for?" he asked.

"I wanted to call that Mentor back, ask him to help Luffy and how you got this," Ace claimed.

Connor shifted nervously, thankfully no one noticed. The Frye twins were having a whispered discussion and making hand gestures towards Vivi; it looked like they were arguing about somthing.

"What's up with them?" Sanji asked.

"Who knows," Nami muttered.

"Jacob, Evie. Is something wrong?" Vivi asked.

The twins stopped whispering and looked at them "We were just debating on how to tell you," Evie answered.

"Tell us what?"

"That Connor was the one who planted that snail on Zoro and that he's being spying on you this whole time," Jacob said casually.

All eyes immediately fell on Connor, most were filled with confusion, surprise and disbelief; Ace's eyes however said 'I knew it'.

"JACOB!" Connor yelled out, he looked over at Zoro.

"Kid, is this true?" Zoro asked in shock hoping that it wasn't.

Connor looked down in shame and nodded "it's true, I was spying on you all,"

The straw hats stared at Connor, hurt and betrayal was written all over their faces. The one person who they thought could never betray them had.

"HA I KNEW IT. I TOLD YOU SO!" Ace yelled out.

"Now don't get angry at him, he was just following our Mentors' orders," Jacob claimed "It really isn't as bad as you think,"

"What do you mean? He was spying on us, how can we ever trust him again?" Usopp asked. Connor winced at that comment.

"He technically wasn't spying on you. Just the princess here," Jacob claimed and pointed at Vivi.

"What why me?" Vivi asked in surprise.

"We have some explaining to do, but understand that we can only tell you certain things," Evie said.

"First off have any of you heard of an order called the Brotherhood?" Jacob asked.

The Straw hats shook their heads, Ace and Vivi on the other hand recognised the name.

"I have," Ace said "you're a secret organisation of Assassins right?"

"Ding-Ding-Ding. Give the man a prize," Jacob joked. "Our order has been monitoring Baroque works activity here in Alabasta for the last three years,"

"So are you two Assassins then?" Sanji asked.

"That's right. You see when a warlord decides to settle down some where bad things usually follow; like a civil war for instance," Evie claimed "Our order knows what he's after but we could not make any connection between Crocodile the Shichibukai and Mr 0. Until we met you lot that is,"

"Us? What's so special about us?" Nami asked.

"Nothing, except you had the missing princess of Alabasta with you. Our Mentor has always suspected that Crocodile and Mr 0 were the same but didn't have the evidence to back it up. Our order had a plan in place to prevent Crocodile from ever getting what he wanted from this country,"

"And what dose Crocodile want with my country?" Vivi demanded.

"He wants the weapon that's buried here. A weapon so powerful it could destroy the world," Evie answered gravely.

"There's nothing like that in my Country," Vivi argued.

"Your right, it's hidden away somewhere in the world. But a map leading to its exact location is buried in this country and it's the only one in the world,"

Vivi could not believe what she was hearing, did her father know about this?

"So if you had a plan to prevent Crocodile from achieving his goal why didn't you use it?" Zoro asked.

"Because of me, I stopped it," Connor admitted.

Again all attention turned to Connor.

"Yep a three year plan gone down the drain because of one little boy," Jacob agreed.

"So just how did you find out about this plan of theirs?" Ace asked.

"Because they told me and I demanded they change it," Connor explained "Remember when Jacob stabbed me? He offered to do me a favour as an apology,"

"Right you wanted to learn that counter move," Usopp said, remembering the misunderstanding.

"That's not the only thing I asked for, I asked them to help us bring down Crocodile and stop the war," Connor revealed.

 _Flashback_

 _Evie and Jacob stared at Connor; they had never believed that he would ask such a thing. Learning a counter move is one thing, but bringing down a Shichibukai that was difficult._

" _Ah that might not be possible," Jacob said._

" _Why? You said you'd do anything I asked," Connor claimed._

" _I need to make a call," Evie said and pulled out a white baby snail phone; she left the room._

" _I don't understand why won't you help us?"_

" _Let's just wait till Evie comes back," Jacob said_

 _They waited in silence for Evie to return and she did a few minutes later, Evie handed the phone to Connor._

" _Our boss wants a word with you," She said and sat down._

" _Boss?" Connor asked "hello?" he spoke into the speaker._

" _Greetings, I take it you are the one that Jacob stabbed?" a light and cherry voice spoke._

" _Yes, he said he'd do me a favour,"_

" _I heard; I am sorry that you got hurt. You wish to bring down Crocodile, si?_

" _Yes, he started a civil war in Alabasta and is the leader of a criminal organisation called Baroque works"_

" _Tell me where did you get this information?" the bosses voice asked seriously._

" _Why should I tell you that?"_

" _Because the fate of the world may depend on it,"_

" _From Princess Vivi,"_

" _So Vivi is still alive then… please tell me everything you know,"_

 _Connor explained everything that Vivi had told the crew._

" _This makes things easier for us. I am sorry to inform you that my organisation has a plan in place to prevent that war and thanks to you we can implement it right away,"_

" _So Crocodile will be stopped? What's the plan?"_

" _I cannot tell you that,"_

" _Hey I just gave you the information you needed to get your plan moving Right? At least tell me what it is,"_

" _Sir, if I can't fulfil his request then he has a right to know why and he will not be able to stop us. Is there really any harm?" Jacob asked._

" _Very well, our plan is the complete Assassination of the Nefertari line," the voice said._

 _End Flash back_

The straw hats stared at the twins in horror, and Vivi could not believe what she had just heard. If these twins were serious then Vivi was their target.

"You were going to kill me and my father?" Vivi asked terrified.

"Not just you two but any other extended family. Cousins, uncles, grandparents we were fully prepared to kill them all," Jacob claimed.

"Our order did extensive research on the Nefertari family tree. Turns out you have some very distant relatives. A few of your predecessors had more than one child; while the eldest continued the royal line those other siblings had families of their own. They were on our list too,"

"So basically any one that had Nefertari in their ancestry would have been killed," Vivi stated in shock.

"That was the plan yes, but Connor demanded that we not go through with it. He managed to convince our Mentor to let you try and end the war, without wiping your family off the face of the earth," Jacob confirmed.

"Why would you do that? Why would you kill all those families?" Vivi asked.

"Because that map I mentioned can only be accessed by someone of the Nefertari line," Evie claimed.

"Their boss agreed to spare everyone in your family tree. If I could provide proof that Mr 0 and Crocodile were the same person and this war was a massive sham. I had until the final battle began," Connor explained.

"If he failed then we would've through with our plan," Evie explained "Part of the deal was that we needed to know Vivis whereabouts at all times hence Connor spying on you,"

"When Ace saw me reporting in Yuba, I feared that the I'd failed but no one believed him, on the way to Rainbase I was informed they knew Ace suspected me," Connor explained "That's when the Mentor said if I didn't place the blame on someone else then our deal was off and they would kill you all and make me watch."

"So you pretended to have a nightmare and planted their phone on me," Zoro realised.

"I didn't want too, but it was either that or they'd killed you all,"

"If he hadn't we would have never gotten a confession from Crocodile himself," Evie said "Connor had provided the very information that our order had spent three years trying to find, so the attack on Vivis family was called off,"

"So that was your business in Rainbase," Chopper realised "you were getting into position to kill Vivi,"

"Yes but thankfully Connor fulfilled his end of the bargain and there was no need to end her life, if he hadn't we would not be having this conversation,"

"When were you originally planning to kill me and my father?" Vivi asked she needed to know if the last 9 days had been borrowed time or not.

"The moment you set foot on Alabastain soil," Jacob said "Then we could pin your death on Baroque Works,"

"So the whole reason that I'm still alive is because of Connor? Is my father alive as well?"

"Don't worry no one related to your family tree was harmed. We may be killers but we always keep our promises," Jacob proclaimed.

"So why are you still here then?" Ace asked suspiciously "If your mission to kill Vivi was called off, why are you coming with us?"

"I just said that we always keep our promises. Connors original request still stands," Jacob claimed "bring down Crocodile and help stop the war,"

"But I thought his request was to stop Vivis death," Nami added.

"Weren't you listing? Connor never asked us specifically to stop that plan, he asked our boss. Now that that plan is no longer in effect I am free to fulfil his original request,"

"That's some twisted logic," Nami commented.

* * *

 _Outskirts of Rainbase_

A man in a white hood stood in front of a large sink hole, he peered in to the sink hole looking for something.

He was wearing a long white hooded desert robe, around his waist a belt with a silver sword sheathed over a red sash. The hood covered the top part of his face. He had and several pouches attached to it. On his wrists were leather guards, his left hand was missing its ring finger.

The man raised his right arm and flicked his index and middle finger upwards, instantly the sand shot out Luffys body. Luffy levitated in the air held up by some unseen force; the man moved his arm to the side and the body followed the man's command. Once over solid ground the Luffy dropped as whatever had been holding it up disappeared.

The man stood above Luffys unmoving body, he pulled out a water canteen and poured some of the water onto Luffys face. Luffys eyes snapped open and he gasped for air, Luffy looked up at the man and gripped his boot.

"Meat!" Luffy raspy demanded, this throat was bone dry.

The man knelt down and offered Luffy the Canteen, Luffy snatched it and began to drink its contents, and he showed no sign of stopping. When he was he coughed a bit, he looked at the man again and handed him back the Canteen.

"Novice, are you done giving away all of our water?" a voice asked from behind.

"He needs it more than we do, besides there's a city right behind us," the man claimed in a deep and serious voice.

"And while you were busy giving away our water you failed to notice that we have compony,"

"I noticed Malik. I just didn't care," the man answered, he turned around to face the other man.

It was the owner of the bookshop in Nanohanna. Standing behind him was Miss All-Sunday, she was staring at the two men; her body looked calm but her eyes were filled with fear.

"Can we help you miss?" Malik asked.

Miss All-Sundays eyes darted between the two, she had come to save Luffy but she had not expected these two men to beat her too it.

"I just wanted to ask Straw hat a question," Miss All-Sunday answered, it would be a very bad idea to lie to these two.

"Ask away," the man in white said and began to walk east "I'm going on ahead. Make sure he lives,"

The wind suddenly picked up and the man in white was gone.

"Make sure he lives, stupid novice," Malik muttered, he bent down to Luffy to assess the damage.

Miss All-Sunday watched as Malik bandaged Luffy up when he was done he walked back towards her. She froze expecting an attack but Malik just walked past her towards Rainbase. Miss All-Sunday let a breath of relief out; she approached Luffy.

Luffy was very weak, he had drunk the water that the man in white had offered and another man had bandaged the wound that Crocodile had given him. He didn't know these men but he was grateful for their help, then all of a sudden they'd both left him there lying on the dessert sand in front of Crocodiles partner.

And the worse part was he didn't have his hat.

* * *

 _The Alibastion desert_

The straw hats were on the far side of the Sandora River. It turns out that Sand crabs could not swim, it was thanks to the arrival of the Kung Fu Dugongs that Luffy had befriended earlier they were able to cross the river. Once on the other side they now faced a new problem Getting Vivi to the Capital before dawn.

"So are we just going to run the whole way there? We'll never make it," Usopp claimed.

"We don't have a choice," Vivi said.

"Hey something's coming this way," Sanji said.

The straw looked towards the horizon and saw a massive dust cloud headed their way.

"It's too small for a sandstorm," Vivi commented.

Usopp looked through his binoculars, "It's Carue," He cried "and he's brought friends,"

Sure enough Carue stopped in front of Vivi, he was accompanied by six other ducks; they gave a salute to Vivi.

"Caure," Vivi cried happily "You brought the Spot-Billed Duck squad,"

"The what now?" Jacob asked.

"These are the fasted over land birds in Alabasta," Vivi explained "with them we should get to Alubana in no time,"

"Great so we have a ride. Now we need a plan," Evie said.

"We have a plan: get Vivi home and stop the rebels," Zoro said.

Evie looked at Zoro in the eye "And how do you expect to get her past the war preparations or the numbered agents waiting for her?"

"Hold on Baroque works is already here?" Vivi asked in surprise.

"Oh boy," Evie sighed "Look if I was an evil person…"

"Which you are," Jacob interrupted. Evie punched him in the gut and flipped him on his back.

"As I was saying, if I were a criminal master mind and knew where the one person could stop me was going to be; I'd put my best guys on the job to take them out. I guarantee that the remaining pairs are waiting for us,"

"So how do we get past them?" Connor asked.

"We don't, we just lure them away. Here's how I see the city this circle represents the City of Alubana," Evie started and drew a circle in the sand.

"Now there are five entrances one north south east west and south east," Evie marked them on the map "The rebels are coming from Kotrea to the south so that means that the numbered agents will be waiting close to the south and south east entrances,"

"So we how do we sneak Vivi in the city?" Ace asked.

"Simple the entire Straw hat crew will ride the six spot –billed duck squad disguised as Vivi and when they near the entrance spilt up into three groups of two,"

"And if we look like Vivi they'll follow us," Nami realised.

"Once the coast is clear Jacob and I will escort Vivi and Carue to the palace where she can order both armies to stand down," Evie finished.

"Good plan but how are we going to disguise ourselves as Vivi?" Usopp asked.

Carue suddenly quacked and walked over to the group. He reached into his pouch and pulled out a white hooded dessert robe and dropped it at Vivis feet. The rest of the squad did the same; all together there was seven of them.

"That'll work," Jacob commented.

"Hold on theses are adult sizes, I won't fit in one," Connor pointed out.

"Vivi can any of these ducks hold two people without losing speed?" Ace asked.

"Yes anyone of them could do it," Vivi claimed.

"All right I'll ride with Connor then," Ace proclaimed.

"Huh?" Connor asked.

"If Connor hides under someone cloak it'll look like only one person is riding, but if he does it on his own then the numbered agents will know something's up," Ace explained.

"That's not a bad Idea. Connor you ride with Ace," Zoro ordered.

"But…Okay," Connor resigned.

"All right everyone get those robes on and let's go," Evie said "and Jacob stop playing in the sand,"


	19. Alabaster Pt 10

_**A.n I own nothing.**_

 _ **I apologise for the extremely late update, there's been a few deaths in the family, my sister broke her arm and my mother was has had to under go kemo therapy. this all happened at once and within the last 2 months. It's just been really stressful and hard to focus on writing. I do want to continue this story and will try to update when I can.**_

 _ **As always please Review.**_

* * *

Two pairs of Number agents plus Mr. 2 stood outside the city of Alubarna, they were waiting for the rebels to arrive and Princess Vivi. Miss Merry Christmas, an older woman with a red hair and a white sweater was getting impatient. They had been out there since before swan and the Rebels had yet to show up, her partner Mr.4 was a tall blond fat man who was a little on the slow side; he was looking out over the horizon with binoculars and spotted a large dust loud approaching at a rapid pace.

"Th….re…co…m…in…"Mr. 4 said but was interrupted by his partner.

"What? What is it if you see something spit it out," Miss Merry Christmas said and snatched the binoculars.

"WHAT?" she yelled out.

"Is it the rebels?" Mr. 2 asked.

"It's too early for them to be here," Mr. 1 commented.

"No it's the Spot-billed duck squad," Miss Merry Christmas said with worry.

"Alabasta's royal family's elite personal squad? Then I guess it's the Princess," Miss double finger said happily.

"Then all we have to do is kill Vivi," Mr. 1 added.

"Mr. 1 I doubt it will be that easy," Miss Merry Christmas said.

"Please how hard could it be to kill one little girl?"

The old woman handed him the binoculars and Mr. 1 looked through them; his face and confidence fell at what he saw. The Spot-billed duck squad was indeed approaching the city but riding them were six identical riders.

"Then why don't you tell me which one is the princess," Miss Merry Christmas argued back.

"We don't need to know, Mr. 4 fire," Mr. 1 ordered.

Mr. 4 pulled his bazooka off his back and fired at the now visible ducks and there riders, however all the ducks dodged the shot and by the time the bazooka shell exploded they had past the impact zone.

"So fast!" Mr. 2 commented in amazement.

"Let's just take them out here," Miss double finger suggested and got ready to fight.

"Right," the other agents agreed.

They got into fighting stances ready to attack the ducks as soon as they were close enough, but just as the ducks were coming into range they suddenly split into three groups of two; each group ran in different directions. One group went east, one group went west and one jumped straight over the top and ran into the city.

"WHAT?!" the agents yelled in shock.

"SPILT UP, DON'T LET THEM INTO THE CITY!" Mr.1 ordered, and he turned around to chase the group that had entered the city; he was followed by Miss double finger.

Mr. 2 ran west and Mr.4 and his partner chased after the group to the east.

Mr.1 and Miss double finger chased the two ducks and their riders through the back alleys of Alubarna but they were having a hard time keeping up.

"Hurry Miss double finger one of those is Vivi," Mr. 1 said.

"How can you be sure?" his partner asked.

"Think about it Vivi wants to stop the war so it makes sense that she'd go straight to the palace to do that,"

"So by entering the city she'd given herself away," Miss double finger realised.

Suddenly the two ducks stopped and the agents caught up, if they were out of breath they didn't show it.

"It's over princess," Mr. 1 said.

"Princess, I take offence to that," a male voice responded.

"And I'm no damsel in distress," a second female voice added in.

The two Baroque works eyes widened that was not Vivis voice. The riders threw off there cloaks to reveal Zoro and Nami.

"Wait if you're not Vivi than…" Miss double finger started.

"Then you've been tricked in fact Vivi wasn't even with us. Those other two groups you chased, all members of our Pirate crew," Zoro said confidently.

* * *

 _The same time outside Alubarna, Western ruins_

"We knew you lot wanted her dead so we made sure that you would follow us. Without you guarding the gate Vivi-chawn will stop the rebels before they enter the city," Sanji claimed.

"Quick back to the gate," Miss Merry Christmas said and turned to leave.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. We've got orders for the Royal army to stand down," Chopper said as he and Sanji both pulled out a folded piece of paper.

* * *

 _The Same time in Alubarna, Back alley_

"These are signed by Vivi herself and have the seal of the Alabasta royal family. If you go back to the gate to stop her we'll delver this straight to whoever's in charge and no general would ever disobey an order from their countries princess," Usopp smirked.

"The only one who could disregard these orders is the king…oh wait he's not here is he?" Ace mocked.

"Basically…we win no matter what you do," Connor said.

The agents all stared at the pirates in front of them, if what they said was true than no matter what they did the war would stop but if they took the letters and then killed Vivi then nothing will have changed.

"Very well, we'll kill you first and take those orders," Mr.2 declared at the same time as the other numbered agents.

Ace, Usopp and Connor got off the ducks they were riding and the animals ran off.

"You can try," Connor said and drew his blade.

* * *

 _Outskirts of Alubarna_

Vivi watched a safe distance away from the city; she was on Carue ready to ride as soon as the Straw hats had lured the Numbered agents away. Jacob and Evie were with her on Eyelashes, the plan had worked. Vivi and the two Assassins rode towards the city and were waiting for the rebels to arrive.

"If this doesn't work we'll have a full blown war on our hands," Jacob warned the princess.

"It'll work…it has too," Vivi claimed bravely.

"Here they come," Evie said as a large army approached the city.

Vivi spread her arms out so the Rebels would see her but just as they were coming into view, a cannon shot out from the city and landed nearby creating a sand cloud around Vivi.

"NO!" Evie shouted.

"Idiots what are they doing? Now the army won't see us," Jacob hissed "Vivi get out of here you'll be trampled,"

But Vivi was to busy yelling into the dust cloud for the rebels to stop there assault. Unfortunately Koza passed right by here without seeing or hearing her. Carue quickly tackled Vivi to the ground and used his body to shield her from the oncoming army.

The Frye wins managed to get out of the way safely and watched helplessly as the rebels invaded the city; once the dust sand cloud had cleared the twins ran over to Carues bloodied and broken from.

"VIVI!" Evie yelled and the twins ran over to Carue.

Vivi emerged from under Carue with no more than a few bruises, she cried when she saw here friends injured body.

"Vivi we need to get going," Jacob said gently.

"No I can't leave him," Vivi claimed with tears in her eyes.

Evie whistled and Eyelashes came over.

"Eyelashes can take him to get treatment but we need to move, you have a war to stop," Evie reminded her.

"VIVI!" a familiar voice cried.

The group tuned to see Usopp riding a horse in there direction.

"Usopp? What are you doing here?" Jacob asked.

"I stole this horse, now we can get Vivi to the palace faster," Usopp said and held out his hand "Get on,"

Vivi was about to take it when Evie stepped in front of her.

"How do we know you're the real Usopp?" she asked.

"Of course I'm real look," he held up his left arm and showed a bandage.

Vivis' eyes widened, she remembered the counter measure the straw hats had in place.

 _Flashback_

 _On the Going Merry Vivi was explaining to the Frye twins and the straw hats Mr. 2's powers. This was after the little misunderstanding between Jacob and the Straw hats earlier in that morning._

" _So this guy can Copy anyone exactly?" Sanji asked in amazement._

" _Yes, body size, gender, voice and looks," Vivi confirmed._

" _So how do we tell who is who?" Nami asked._

" _Easy lets mark our left arms and wrap a bandage over it. That way we'll know who is friend and who is foe," Zoro suggested._

" _A double bluff, the enemy could easily replicate the bandage but the true test is if they take it off or not," Evie commented impressed._

" _Maybe Zoro's been replaced," Jacob commented._

" _YOUR NOT OFF THE HOOK YET!" Zoro shouted at Jacob._

" _I agree with Jacob, he's way too smart to be moss-head," Sanji claimed._

" _YOUR DEAD COOK!" Zoro said and launched into another fight with Sanji._

" _No that's him," the entire straw hat crew said together as they watched the fight._

 _End Flashback_

"You're not Usopp!" Vivi yelled.

"Time to go," Jacob said, he grabbed Vivis arm and took off running towards the city with Evie.

"Crap how did they know?" Mr 2 said as he pulled a gun out and aimed it at Vivis back.

Jacob quickly pulled his own out and shot the gun out of Mr.2's hand, a second shot hit the horse and it died, Mr2 was stuck underneath it.

"Nice shot," Evie commented as they ran.

"Of course," Jacob smiled and put his gun away.

As soon as they approached the wall to the city Jacob wrapped his arm around Vivis waist, this caused Vivi to blush slightly; Both Jacob and Evie raised there right arms and shot out their zip lines.

"Going up," Jacob said as he and Vivi were pulled towards the top of the wall.

Vivi was amazed at how they were getting into the city, now they would bypass the fighting at the gats. She looked down to see Mr 2 running towards them.

"Top floor Civil war, Evil warlords and the Secret to world destruction," Jacob joked, once they reached the top.

"Really, now is not the time for jokes brother," Evie said and pulled her hood on.

"There's always time for jokes sister," Jacob claimed as he took his top hat off, flattened it and put it inside his robes; he then pulled his own hood on.

"But your right, it's time for us to be Assassins," Jacob finished in a deadly voice.

Vivi looked ahead, the fighting had started and it looked like that it was restricted to the outer wall but that would not last long though. Soon this war will engulf the entire city, she needed to get everyone's attention, and she needed something so big that the fighting would stop. But what would cause a big enough distraction that would distract an entire country?

"That's it!" Vivi yelled and looked to the twin Assassins "I need to get to the place,"

"To order the Royal army to surrender," Evie assumed.

"No to blow it up," Vivi said seriously.

"You know what sis, I like this princess," Jacob said "don't worry we'll get you there. Consider us your new incredibly good looking and deadly bodyguards,"

* * *

 _Back alley, Alubarna_

Ace and Connor were running through the streets of the city, the moment they'd finished talking to Mr.2 the agent had run back to the outskirts of the City. Usopp had run off to warn Chopper and Sanji about him as their group would be the closest; he hadn't come back yet.

"Do you think Vivi made it?" Connor asked Ace concerned.

"The fighting has started so that means Vivi failed to stop the rebels at the gate. But she's inside the city and moving towards the palace know," Ace answered.

"How do you know that?"

"That's not important, what is important is we help Zoro and Nami," Ace said and stopped at a street entrance.

"Nami's down there follow that street and go left at the end. That's where she'll be," Ace instructed before running off.

Connor watched him go and ran off to find Nami, he found her leaning against a buildings wall; he was about to call to her when a spike suddenly pierced her shoulder. Nami screamed in pain and stumbled forward.

"NAMI!" Connor cried and ran towards her.

"Connor? What are you doing here?" Nami asked in surprise.

But before he could answer several spikes pierced through the wall and a section collapsed revealing very scantily dressed Miss double finger.

She looked down at both Nami and Connor.

"Well well what do we have here another target," Miss Double finger smirked.

Connor drew his blade.

"Cute," Miss Double finger said and rushed at him, she grabbed Connor by the throat and held him against the opposite wall.

Connor struggled against her grip and Miss Double finger raised her hand and pointed a finger aimed at Connors eye; it turned into a spike.

"You know you might have lived longer had you not come here, but we would have found you eventually,"

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Nami yelled and pulled out a new blue coloured metal staff.

"Don't worry, I'll get to you next little girl," Miss Double Finger smirked.

Connor shut his eyes excepting the Barque works agent to end his life, but instead he felt Miss double Finger lose her grip and drop him.

He opened his eyes and saw that Miss double finger thrown back across the ally and crash into a pile of boxes. Nami stood there in shock and looked at her weapon; two of the 3 small metal rod that made up her new Staff were in an X shape at the end of the staff.

"Nami…what did you do?" Connor asked getting up.

"I…I don't know," Nami said in shock, she pulled out a piece of paper and looked at it.

"No way…" Nami gasped with her eyes wide open.

"What is it?" Connor asked.

"This weapon…" She didn't get to finish because just then Miss Double finger charged at them.

"I'll skewer you for that!" she yelled, and her fingers turned into spikes.

Nami stood there frighted unable to move. Just before Miss double finger could reach her Connor jumped in the way and blocked the strike with his blade; the Numbered agents spiked fingers instantly turned back into regular fingers.

"What?" Miss Double finger asked, but she fell to her knees and found it hard to move.

Not missing an opportunity Connor swiftly kicked her in the chest, the force from the kick sent her flying backwards.

Miss double finger struggled to get back up; she stared at the pirated in front of her with anger.

"That's it, you are both dead!" she yelled and turned into a ball of spikes, rolling towards Nami and Connor.

The two pirates face paled and ran off in the other direction desperate to get away from the spiked ball of death. They jumped in a window in an abandoned house just in time; taking a second to catch their breaths.

"What is up with her? What kind of freaky devil fruit did she eat?" Nami complained.

"Nami my leg," Connor said, Nam looked at the boy's leg and saw a large gash across it; it looked deep.

Nami tore a her desert robes and used it as a make shift bandage, it wasn't the best but it would have to do until Chopper could look at it properly.

'What are we going to do? Connor can't run like this and I can't beat her on my own?' Nami thought, she looked at the piece of paper again 'unless…'

"Connor I have a plan, but I need you to hide and no matter what don't come out until I call for you," Nami said seriously.

"Okay but are you sure?" Connor asked, not likening the idea of Nami fighting alone.

"Very, just sty hidden and the moment I call for you try and stab her with your sword," Nami ordered.

Connor nodded, he looked around the abandoned house and saw some old furniture staked in the corner; with Namis help he hid behind it.

Once Connor was safety hidden from sight Nami went back and stood in the centre of the room, she broke her weapon apart and started twirling two parts in her hands. Numerous red and blue balls were released into the air.

Suddenly Miss Double finger ran in and saw Nami standing there, she charged at the navigator and sent a spike through her chest. However instead of dying Nami vanished leaving nothing but air.

"What?!" Miss double finger gasped.

"Were you looking for me?" Nami said confidently a few feet away.

Miss double finger turned and struck again but Nami faded away a second time.

"Where are you?" the numbered agent demanded.

"Right here," Nami answered and she came into view,

"Or here," another one said.

"No I'm the real one," a third claimed.

More versions of Nami came into view until the entire room was filled with them; the Baroque Works agent looked at all of them trying to determine which one was real.

"You think this little trick will stop me?" Miss double finger said and spikes extended from her body hitting each one. They all disappeared leaving one behind with a spike through her shoulder.

"So there you are," Miss double finger smirked and walked over confidently.

"Any last words?"

"Yeah just two…CONNOR NOW!" Nami cried.

Connor sprang out from his hiding place and jumped onto Miss Double fingers back, he brought his sword up and embedded it in the Numbered agents left shoulder blade. Miss double finger screamed in pain and fell to her knees as the spike in Namis shoulder instantly retracted back into Miss double fingers body; she was struggling to keep up. Connor got off her and Nami stood up.

"I predict heavy Lighting and recommend staying away from anything metal," Nami smiled dangerously.

"What do you…" Miss double finger struggled to say, she then looked up and saw a large black thunder cloud covering the entire ceiling.

Her Eyes widened as she realised what was about to happen, Nami ushered Connor out of the house and stood by the door, she broke her weapon apart and threw in a yellow ball.

The second it hit the cloud streak of lightning flashed and several powerful lightning bolts struck the hilt of Connors blade electrocuting Miss Double Finger in the process. The Baroque works assassin screamed and her body spasmed in pain from the sudden surge of electricity.

When it was over Miss double finger and varies burns and smoke was coming off her body. Nami walked over and stood above the now defeated and unconscious agent.

"On the ocean you should always listen to the Navigator and my forecasts are never wrong," Nami smiled.


	20. Alabaster Pt 11

**_A.n I own nothing._**

 ** _Thank you everyone for being patient with me, My family's issues have settled down. Mum responded well to the therapy and my sisters arm is almost completely healed; I will try and get back into to posting a chapter once a week._**

 ** _Again thank you for your patients._**

 ** _As always pleas Review_**

* * *

 _Outside The Palace, Alubarna_

Vivi and Jacob were hiding in one of the empty house; the house was close to the palace. It would have been easy for both Jacob and Evie to sneak in and past the defence line surrounding the Palace, but they had Vivi with them so discretion was needed.

Evie had gone ahead to scout the perimeter of the Place and had yet to return, it made Vivi very anxious and despite Jacobs calm demeanour he was worried about his sister.

"Are you sure she'll be all right?" Vivi asked worriedly.

"Relax Evie is an infiltration specialist, this is what she does," Jacob reassured.

"That and kill people,"

"I didn't want to say it,"

"Why couldn't I just show the army who I am and have them take me to Chaka?" Vivi asked.

"Because the army has been infiltrated by Baroque Works, if any of them saw you it would be very bad news," Jacob reminded.

Suddenly Evie faded into view, Vivi looked at her expectantly and the older Frye twin shook her head.

"There are guards everywhere; the defence around the palace is incredible and very tight. Getting in is next to impossible," Evie claimed.

"But I have to get in there, how else are we going to stop this war?" Vivi urged.

"Now calm down she said it was next to impossible and that means she's found a way in," Jacob said "Right sis?"

"Oh I found a way in all right, but Vivi won't like it," Evie warned.

* * *

Chaka walked down one of the hallway through the palace, he was an imposing dark skinned man with medium length black hair. He wore a long, light-green tunic, revealing his muscular chest, with two belts around his waist: a striped, pale-red and crimson large one, and over it a purple, thinner one, a dark-green coat draped on his shoulders like a cape. He carried a massive sword, with a blue hilt and sheath, on his right hip.

Chakra had just been in an emergency war meeting with the commanders of the royal guard. The commanders wanted to send troops to back up the first wave that had been sent to stop the rebels at the gates of the city but Chakra had wanted the bulk of the army guarding the palace.

Pell had also not returned from his previous scouting mission, although Chaka had complete faith in his fellow adviser and body guard, Pell's absence concerned him. And to top it all off there had been a report of Assassins had infiltrated the city.

"Damn this war, first Princess Vivi and Igaram disappear and now the King," Chakra muttered angrily.

Suddenly a clocked hooded figurer crashed through the window in front of him, the figure land erd in a couching position and stood up facing him. Chaka quickly reached for his sword but before he could draw it a second crash was herd behind him.

Chaka whirled around to see a second hooded figure but this on had a passenger. The figure was holding someone bridle style in his arms.

The noise had attracted the guards as soldiers came running, the two figures and Charka were surrounded in an instant.

"I don't know who you are but you will surrender now," Chaka demanded.

The second figure placed their passenger on the ground and stood up straight not saying a word.

"STAND DOWN NOW!" the passenger yelled.

Chaka's eyes widened, he knew that voice.

"By the order of the princess," Vivi said and threw off her hood.

Every in the corridor lowered their weapons and instantly fell to their knees.

"Well that was dramatic," one of the figures joked.

"Princess Vivi…you're alive…how?" Chaka asked in shock.

"I had some help from a few friends," Vivi smiled.

"And them?" Chaka asked gesturing to the two hooded figures.

"They're my new incredibly deadly and good looKing body guards. The Frye twins," Vivi giggled.

"A royal with a sense of humour…I really like her," Jacob chuckled.

"Oh lord, it's contagious," Evie sighed.

"T…T…The Frye twins? You mean Jacob and Evie Frye?" Chaka yelled in surprise.

Being a royal advisor he of course had her d of these two, they were notorious killers and if anyone ever saw them it meant death was not far behind.

"Your highnesses please step away from them," Chaka urged, fearing Vivis life.

"Well that's not very nice, after we went to all the trouble of bringing her here," Jacob claimed.

"Y…Y…You brought her back…Why?" Chakra asked in shock.

"Chakra we don't have time, I have a plan to stop this war but I need all of the gunpowder we have," Vivi urged.

"Of course but what are you planning to do with it?" Chaka asked.

"I'm going to blow up the palace," Vivi said seriously.

Chaka stared at Vivi in shock and horror, he had not expected that.

"You can't be serious," Chaka said "You can't destroy the palace…"

"I am, I can, and I will," Vivi said in a no nonsense tone.

"But this is the heart of our country. Over 400 years of Alabastion history is stored here and the royal family has lived here for almost 800 years," Chaka reminded her "Why would you destroy all that, if this palace were to fall it would be like destroying the country itself. Your father would never allow it,"

Vivi looked down at the ground, she knew the history and the significance of this place and that is why she was going to destroy it.

"I know, I know what the palace represents. Your right, this place I very important, historically wise but your wrong," Vivi answered.

"Wrong?"

"Yes, the palace is not the heart of the country; it is an object, another building and nothing more. As long as the people survive then Alabaster will survive, they are what make up a country. Not the history, not the royal family and certainty not the palace," Vivi said looKing Chaka directly in the eye.

"And right now the people are fighting and dying for no reason. So yes I will throw away hundreds of years of history and Kings and queens because if that what it takes to save this country then no price is too high. And if my father was here he'd do the same thing," Vivi finished.

Chaka stared at the princess and processed what she had just said. He wanted to object but deep down he knew she was right, he smiled a proud smile.

'When did she grow up? Where did that little girl go?' Chaka could not help but think.

"You know it might be possible to save some of the palace," Jacob pointed out.

"How?" Vivi turned and to the Assassin.

"All your important historical documents are kept in some vault or basement right?" Evie asked.

"Of course, we store all records down there," Chaka agreed.

"Well if you only destroy a few key structural points on the upper levels, the Palace will collapse on itself leaving the basement intact," Jacob said.

"And then all you'd have to do is dig the records out of the basement," Evie agreed.

"Would that work?" Chaka responded.

"Well it would have to be smaller explosions and the theory hasn't actually been tested…but it would increase the chances of that history you mentioned surviving," Jacob claimed.

"Weather it works or not the palace will still be destroyed," Evie agreed.

Vivi nodded and turned to Chaka.

"How about it Chaka?" Vivi asked.

Chaka sighed and tuned to the solders.

"You herd her get that gunpowder and all explosives here now," Chaka ordered "someone get me a layout of the palace and find those key points,"

The soldiers saluted and ran off to fill their orders. It took about twenty minutes to set everything up, during that time Vivi explained to Chaka how the Frye twins had helped her and the Straw hats involvement in bringing her home.

Chaka was at a loss for words, he always knew that Vivi loved adventures and she always wanted to go on one. When she was a child she and Koza's gang always pretended to be royal knights, bandits and anything else they could think of while ether him or Pell would act as bad guys.

It was all make believe of course and there was no harm in encouraging a child's imagination, though the night raid on the palace took things a bit too far. Chaka still remembered catching Vivi and the entire Sand Sand clan in the kitchen stealing sweets; Vivi's father of course thought it was hilarious and suggested that the kids try the treasure room next time to test the palace security.

They did and the kids actually managed to steal a handful of gold coins each, they had to give the money back but the King let all the kids keep one coin each as a trophy.

But infiltrating a criminal organisation, traveling with pirates and befriending two of the most notorious killers in the world was not what Chaka would consider an adventure.

"I'm getting too old for this," Chaka said to himself.

Once all the explosives had been set and the place had been evacuated; Chaka sent the guards to protect the palace gate encase any of the Rebels or Baroque works tried to stop them. Vivi, Chaka and the Fry twins stood in front of the palace, there were a few men standing by ready to light the explosives.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Chaka asked, he was hoping that Vivi would change his mind.

"Yes, if we do then the war will stop," Vivi said, she looked at her home with regret in her eyes but Vivi knew that it was the only way.

"Very well," Chaka said and gave the signal to the men.

The few solders began too light the fuses but suddenly a large sand tornado surrounded the palace. Jacob and Evie instantly pushed Vivi and Chaka behind them and drew their weapons. The sand tornado disappeared leaving the dried out corpses of the men who were supposed to light the fuses.

Vivi and Chaka stared in shock and horror, Crocodile was standing in front of them.

He had the King under one arm and Miss All-Sunday stood next to him with a confidant smirk on her face.

The King was an older man with a wrinkled face, a tied-off beard, and long, curly, black hair. He wore a green robe with yellow edging, an orange and beige sash around his waist, and a purple coat.

"Now, now I can't allow that, after all this is going to be my house after today," Crocodile claimed.

"Crocodile?! Why is he here? Where's Luffy?" Vivi asked in shock.

Crocodile gave a wicked smile and looked at the Frye twins. Jacob and Evie got ready to strike at a moment's notice; they could not risk the King getting hurt.

"Straw hat is dead, I buried him under the sands at Rainbase," Crocodile claimed.

"No…No…Your lying," Vivi's eye's widened in shock.

"I've lied about a lot of things, but when it comes to weaklings like him…there is no point,"

"Luffy would never lose to the likes of you," Evie shouted out.

Jacob looked at his sister in surprise; he was thinking the same thing. When did she put faith in a pirate? Come to think of it when did he?

"She's right, besides you have bigger things to worry about," Jacob agreed.

"Oh and what would that be?" Crocodile mocked.

"Us," Jacob claimed.

"Oh, it's true you two are well known killers but your no match for me. I only entertained Straw hat because I had the time, you two should be glad I don't have time to play with you," Crocodile said.

"Then why did you come here?" Vivi demanded.

"Simple I came to collect my prize, Pluton," Crocodile said.

The Kings eyes widened as did Chaka's, Vivi was confused.

'Was that the weapon the twins mentioned?' She wondered.

Vivi looked at the twins they had suddenly become very stiff and nervous.

"I see you all recognise it," Crocodile continued and looked at the King.

"Tell me where it is," he demanded.

"How do you know that name?" The King asked.

"Simple, as a Shichibukai I have access to highly classified documents in the Government; you would not believe the things that they have covered up,"

"But what is Pluton?" Vivi asked.

"It's a secret passed down through the royal line," Chaka answered.

"It's a powerful weapon; legend says that it could wipe an Island out of existence with a single shot. The inhabitants and the land would be gone, as if they were never there," Crocodile claimed.

Vivi's eyes widened, no wonder the Brotherhood was willing to wipe her family out. No one should have that kind of a weapon.

"Once I find it I will turn Alabasta into the greatest military nation in the world. Not even the government will stand against me," Crocodile boasted.

"WE'LL NEVER LET YOU HAVE IT!" Jacob yelled and charged at Crocodile.

Jacob ran up with his Kukri drawn intending to kill Crocodile, he aimed strait for the man's hart. Crocodile dropped the King and blocked Jacobs strike with his golden claw; his other arm turned into sand and wrapped around Jacobs waist.

Jacob's eyes widened and Crocodile slammed him into the side of the palace. Jacob's body went limp from the impact and dropped his weapon. Crocodile repeated to slam Jacob into building; suddenly he felt a knife go into his shoulder.

The Shichibukai felt very weak and his sand arm instantly returned to normal, he looked and saw Evie standing in front of him enraged.

"NO ONE MESSES WITH MY BROTHER!" she yelled, she pulled her wrist back and released her hidden blade.

Before she could strike various arms sprouted and restrained her. Miss all Sunday walked up to crocodile and pulled the knife out of his shoulder.

"Can't have you dying on me," Miss All-Sunday said and pocketed the knife.

The moment the knife came out Crocodiles wound healed over and he got his strength back. He held the King up by his throat.

"Now that that's over and done with where is Pluton?" the Shichibukai demanded.

"I…I don't know," the King answered "Just because it's supposed to be hidden here dose not mean that it actually is…I don't even know if the legend about it is true or not,"

Crocodile stared down at the King contemplating his words.

"I thought that might be the case, an ancient powerful weapon surrounded in mystery…sounds like something made up; even to me. But I planned for that; tell me where is the Ponyglyph that Pluton that the royal family is so desperate to protect?" Crocodile asked.

"Ponyglyph?" Vivi asked, she had never heard of a Ponyglyph before.

Sounds of battle drew closer and Crocodile looked out into the town.

"They're so noisy," he commented.

"What did you expect? You started this war; did you think that it would be quite?" Chaka accused.

"No but they will be silenced soon enough, in about 20 minutes the rebels and the Royal army will meet in the Palace square. Once the fighting starts…the rebellion will end," Crocodile claimed.

"End? What do you mean?" Vivi demanded.

"I've arranged for a bomb to go off at 4:30 this afternoon about ten minutes after the two army's clash,"

"NO…HOW CAN YOU BE SO EVIL?! WHAT DID THE PEOPLE EVER DO TO YOU?!" Vivi screamed.

"I would have thought you would have been happy, I'm ending this war for you. TalKing never brings peace; it's much more efficient to wipe both army's out," Crocodile smirked "After all every coronation has fire works

"YOU MONSTER!" Chaka yelled, he drew his sword and charged straight at the Shichibukai.

In mid charge he morphed into a large black dog, using the speed from his altered from he sliced Crocodile in half, Chaka's eyes widened when he saw the Sand reform. Crocodile turned and gave the General a board look.

"A Zoan type…even with that power your still so weak," Crocodile said, he lashed out and a blade or sand cut across Chaka's torso.

Chaka screamed in pain and collapsed form his wound, he reverted back to human form.

"Being so weak is a sin," Crocodile said coldly.

Vivi fell to her knees, she had watched all of her allies fall, first Jacob, then Evie and now Chaka; there was no one left to help her.

Crocodile slowly started walKing towards her with a murderous expression in his eyes. Vivi stared at the Shichibukai in fear; she'd failed, everything she had done was in vain.

"Vivi?" a new voice asked.

Crocodile, Miss All-Sunday and Vivi turned their attention too where the voice had come from. There standing in the courtyard was a young blond man, Vivi recognised him instantly; the Rebel Leader, Koza.

He wore purple-tinted glasses and had a scar on his left eye, he wore a blue scarf around his neck, a dark purple jacket that went all the way down to his ankles, a white shirt, black pants and a yellow sash around his waist.

"K..Koza?" Vivi gasped, she had not expected to see her childhood friend here.

"Oh you're early," Crocodile commented.

Koza took in the scene around him; he saw the unmoving bodies of Chaka and Jacob, Evie restrained by dozens of hands sprouting out of her body and the King on the ground next to Miss All-Sunday.

"W…W…What's going on here?" Koza asked in shock.

"Your confused, that's completely understandable," Miss All-Sunday said. Koza looked at her.

"It's quite simple really, what's the worst situation your mind can think off at this point?" Miss All-Sunday asked.

Koza's eyes widened as he began to realise what was truly happing.

"I…I came here to try and convince the King and the Royal army to surrender…but…" Koza claimed.

"Koza listen to me this war is a massive sham," Vivi tried.

"What? Then does that mean the drought was…"

"Was all caused by Crocodile, he stole the rain and drove Alabasta into despair," Vivi finished.

Crocodile burst out laughing; Vivi and Koza looked at him.

"Oh princess, you are far crueller than I expected, now he knows that everything he's done, the treason him and his army have committed was all for nothing," Crocodile stated.

"Your lying…everything I have done has been for the good of Alabasta," Koza claimed.

"No everything you have done was for me, you were a good puppet; always dancing on your strings. While the Royal army and Family were desperately trying to prevent war, you instigated it,"

"No…" Koza said in despair.

"It would have been better if you had never found out the truth, dying in ignorance is more than you deserve," Crocodile said coldly.

"KOZA DON'T LISTEN TO HIM!" the King suddenly cried out.

Koza looked at the king in shock, the King was angry but not at Koza.

"YOU ARE NOT TO BLAME FOR THIS WAR! THERE IS A BOMB IN THE SQUARE, SAVE AS MANY AS YOU CAN!" the King shouted.

"A…A bomb? But…Both armys will perish," Koza whispered.

Koza turned and ran towards the gate, he had to stop both armys before the final battle started. He doubt the Rebls would accept it but Koza was going to surrender, it was the only way to stop the fighting.

"NOO!" Vivi cried and talked him to the ground.

"Vivi? Get off me I have to warn them," Koza said urgently he was pinned under Vivi's weight.

"No, that what Crocodile wants," Vivi argued.

Crocodile raised an eyebrow at Vivi's statement.

"But people will die…"

"Your not thinking straight…if you tell both armies that there is a bomb what do you think will happen?"

"I…"

"They'd panic, there'd be such a panic that no one will escape. Even if the battle did not happen both armies would be wiped out," Vivi said with tears in her eyes.

"She's smarter than she looks," Robin commented.

Koza stared at Vivi and processed what she was saying, he knew she was right.

"So…what do we do?" Koza asked.

"I'll order the Royal army to surrender and then…you'll have to accept it. Once the Rebels see you they'll stop," Vivi suggested.

"Vivi you…LOOK OUT!" Koza screamed.

Behind Vivi sand was forming into Crocodile, once he was fully formed he raised his hook intending to kill the princess.

"Do you think I'd let you do something like that?" Crocodile asked.

Vivi turned to look at the Shichibukai as he brought his golden hook down on her.

 _Clang!_

Something blocked the strike, standing between Crocodile and Vivi was Jacob, he had Evie's Cane sword drawn and it blocked the strike.

Corcodlie's eyes widened, he had taken Jacob out of the fight earlier, he glanced over to where the Assassin had been lying; the spot was empty. Suddenly Miss All-Sunday cried out in pain, Corcodile looked behind him just in time to see the arms restraining Evie dissapear.

"What? How?" Crocodile asked in shock, he took a stp away from Jacob.

Koza was impressed, he hadn't seen ether of them move yet here Jacob was defending Vivi.

"Who are you?" Koza asked.

"What are you doing? Hurry up and make both armies surrender," Jacob yelled, he kept his focus on Crocodile.

"Jacob…" Vivi stared.

"We'll hold them off, don't let this chance go to waste," Evie agreed.

Vivi and Koza stood up and ran off towards the square, leaving the Frye twins to face Crocodile and his partner.

"Miss All-Sunday, Take the King and get the location of the Ponyglyph out of him. I'll catch up with you in a bit," Crocodile ordered.

Miss All-Sunday nodded, a small sand storm picked up separating the King and Miss All-Sunday from the Fyre twins; when it cleared up the King and Crocodiles Partner were gone.

Vivi and Koza ran towards the gate leading to the castle square, once there Vivi ran towards one of the rafters' overlooking the army below; sounds of the rebel army could be herd heading in they're direction.

"EVRYONE!" Vivi shouted out.

The soldiers turned and saw Vivi standing with Koza, they began to mummer among themselves as to the reason that the Rebel leader was here.

"I COMMAND YOU TO LOWER YOUR WEPONS AND RAISE THE WHITE FLAG!" Vivi continued "AS PRINCESS OF ALIBASTA, I HERBY SURNNEDER TO THE REBAL ARMY EFFCTIVE IMMETATLY!"

The royal army stared at the princess in shock; she had effectively handed the kingdom over to the Rebels without a fight.

"AND I KOZA, LEADER OF THE REBEL ARMY ACCEPT THE SURRENDER!" Koza responded.

"Lay down your arms…this war is over," Vivi said.

The soldiers looked at each other and reluctantly did as they were told. They gathered the spears and tied sheets to them as make shift white flags. Koza came down and took one of the flags he stood in front of the Royal army with it raised.

About a moment later the Rebel Army charged into the square, they had to stop as in front of them was they're leader standing in front of the Royal army that was holding several white flags.

"Leader? What's going on?" one of the Rebels asked.

"This war is over, the Royal army has surrendered and I have accepted," Koza claimed.

"The King surrendered?" another Rebl asked.

"No the King is not here, however Princess Vivi has surrendered in his stead. Alabastaion Law says that in the absence of the King the next in line to the throne may make decisions on his behalf,"

"That's true but…" the Rebels started to mutter.

"There is no debating this, I have accepted they're surrender and they no longer wish to fight," Koza finished.

"Really? Then it's over," a Rebel said happily.

"Yes this war is…" Koza started.

 _Bang! Bang! Bang!_

Three shots rang out, they hit Koza in the abdomen, and the Rebel leader fell backwards and collapsed on the ground. Blood poured from his wounds and Vivi screamed for someone to help him, but here words fell on deaf ears.

Enraged by the sudden attack on their leader and the sudden break in the surrender both armies charged and collided with each other.

Vivi watched helplessly as the final battle begun.


	21. Alabaster Pt 12

**_A.N I own nothing._**

 ** _Sorry about the wait, I had to send my computer away for repairs and when I got it back all the editing I had done had been lost along with a good 1/3 of this chapter had been lost. But i finally got the motivation to do it again and this is actually better than what i originally had._**

 ** _I did back up my files so only this chapter was lost._**

* * *

Vivi watched her people enter the final battle, she cried and begged for someone to help Koza and stop the fighting, but no one listened. Ether they did not hear her or they did and did not care. Suddenly a large sand tornado picked up that engulfed the entire square and both armies, but it did not do anything to quell the fighting if anything both armies fought harder.

"No…this can't be happening…" Vivi said with tears forming in her eyes.

She quickly wiped them away and stood up.

"I'll make them see…If I can just find Koza's second in command...I can still stop this," Vivi said.

She turned around and found herself face to face with a very annoyed looking Crocodile; he grabbed her by the throat. Vivi grabbed his wrist trying to loosen the Shichibukai's grip, she looked behind him to see both Jacob and Evie had been knocked down and were slowly getting up again.

"If I do this it will stop the war, if I do that it will stop the war. Face it Princesses you have done nothing these last three years. Your weakness and in action has only increased the body count," Crocodile sneered as he heled Vivi over the battle field.

"Your wrong…I can still save everyone," Vivi cried.

"Sorry princess but death and War go hand in hand; you couldn't save anyone and your ideals make me sick to the stomach,"

"I don't care what you say, I will never stop trying to end this and you," Vivi said with fierce determination.

Crocodiles growled in irritation.

"Then I will put an end to you," Crocodile said and began turning into sand.

"NOOO!" Evie yelled and threw one of her knives at Crocodile, the Shichibukai dissolved his torso just before it hit and Vivi fell from the palace wall.

Jacob and Evie ran to the wall and looked down; due to the sand tornado they could not see anything. Suddenly a giant Falcon swooped down, it was wearing a whit desert Robe with brown Stars decorated the front and a matching hat.

The Falcon then soared back up into the sky, leaving a wind trail behind it and on its back was Luffy holding on to Vivi. Jacob and Evie watched the falcon circle the palace and then it headed back down to the ground.

Crocodile began to reform, Jacob and Evie looked at each other they put they're weapons away and stood on the edge of the wall.

"Well it's been fun Croc but we need to fly," Jacob joked and Preformed a leap of faith off wall into the sand tornado bellow, Evie followed him.

They landed in conveniently placed hay baskets below.

The falcon landed, Luffy and Vivi got off it; the giant bird then shifted into a tall man. Vivi held onto Luffy who had a large barrel of water strapped to his back with a hose. Jacob and Evie walked over.

"Hey Luffy, what took you so long?" Jacob asked.

"Sorry I got held up," Luffy answered and glared up at crocodile.

"Pell…Luffy you're here," Vivi said happily.

"We are not the only ones," the man now known as Pell claimed.

"LOOK THERE HE IS!" Usopp's voice was herd.

Vivi turned around to see Usopp, Chopper and Sanji heading they're way; Usopp was wrpped up in bandages that he looked like a Mummy. Sanji and Chopper were both clarly injured but as well, it was clear they had been through some hard battles.

"VIVI! OVER HERE!" Namis voice called out.

Vivi turned to see Nami and Zoro running in her direction, Zoro was carrying Nami despite his injuries. Ace was with them and he was carrying Connor.

"Oi stop moving and run by yourself," Zoro demanded.

"No way, I'm can't walk," Nami claimed.

"I'M MORE INJUED THAN YOU!" Zoro shouted.

Zoro had seral cuts across his torso and his clothes were dirty with blood and sand. Connor was still injured and could not walk yet, he needed more time to heal. In fact all of the straw hats looked like they were on the verge of collapsing and it was only by sheer force of will they were still standing.

The only one who was unharmed was Ace.

Vivi could not believe it all her friends had survived and they were here, seeing her friends gave her the strength she needed.

"Everyone listen Crocodiles hidden a bomb and is going to blow up the square with everyone in it, we have to find it right away," Vivi explained.

"Hey Vivi why did the fighting start? I thought you were supposed to stop it," Usopp asked, looking at the battle that was currently taking place.

"I couldn't stop it…I tried but my voice no one hears it," Vivi said sadly, she was on the verge of tears "No one can hear me anymore,"

"What are you talking about?" Luffy asked "We can hear you, loud and clear,"

"He's right, and that is all you really need. So what if your country can't hear you, the important thing is we do," Jacob agreed.

"Everyone…thank you," Vivi said with tears pf happiness.

"Save the thanks until after we've saved this country," Evie snapped.

"Your right, when this is over I'll give you anything you want," Vivi promised.

"Good, then throw me a feast. Because I'll be hungry," Luffy said and stretched his arms up reaching for the top of the castle wall.

From the top of the wall Crocodile looked down at the Straw Hats with pure anger.

"How did they survive? How did Straw Hat escape the quick sand with those injuries?" He hissed.

Suddenly Luffy launched himself at Crocodile and Crocodile watched with a board expression as the younger pirate pulled back and let lose a punch.

"Useless," Crocodile said and began to dissolve into sand. However Luffy's punch connected and sent the Shichibukai flying back.

Crocodile hit the side of the main entrance of the palace; he looked up at Luffy in shock. How had he hit him, he was a Logia type user physical attacks should have gone straight through him.

"How…" Crocodiles started and his eyes widened as Luffy grabbed him and threw him across the yard, blood flowed from where Luffy had hit him.

"When we last fought water got on your hand and you couldn't turn it into sand, I realised then that you're afraid of water and that's why you stole the rain," Luffy said seriously and squirted some water on his fist.

"I won't let you beat me again," Luffy claimed.

* * *

 _The Final Battle, Alabastion Palace Square_

The Straw Hats were running through the streets, desperately trying to find the bomb that Vivi had mentioned. Pell has taken to the sky to search from above, Nami and Chopper had run off together as had Jacob and Evie. The rest had split up and Connor still had to be carried by Ace as his leg had not healed enough yet.

They had ten minutes to stop the bomb from destroying this country and that time was quickly counting down.

"Damn it where is it?" Jacob hissed angrily.

"Calm down, getting angry won't help us have to find it," Evie reasoned.

"I know, this would be so much easier with our sight,"

"We can barely keep our eyes open in all this sand, let alone use Eagle vision,"

"What makes you think it's in the sand tornado?"

"Simple that way no one would notice it,"

"Hiding in plain sight huh…Crocodile stole that from us," Jacob joked.

"Just pay attention," Evie sighed.

* * *

Nami and Chopper ran through the streets, they had left the main battle field and looked in all the large buildings in the area, but there was still no sign of the bomb.

"Chopper can't you smell the bomb with your nose?" Nami asked.

"This whole city reeks of gunpowder and death," Chopper answered gravely.

"Then sniff out the bombers,"

"What do they smell like?"

"I don't know just do it," Nami ordered and they kept running.

* * *

Sanji had dashed off out of the Sand tornado; he figured a bomb would be indoors because the fighting was in the streets. He checked every house that looked big enough to hold the bomb.

"Dam it where is it?" He hissed.

Suddenly he stopped running.

"Hold on if the targes the square than it would be closer to the battle field," Sanji realised.

He then realised how far he'd run and started kicking down building walls to get back to the Square as fast as possible.

* * *

Ace and Connor were still in the battle field; Ace had predicted that the Sand tornado was to cover the bomb up. He had tried using his Observation Haki to locate the bombers but with the constant attacks form both armies he could not concentrate properly.

"Ace behind you," Connor warned.

Ace quickly delivered a swift back kick into an attacking Rebels face.

"This is useless I can't concentrate," Ace hissed irritably.

"Ace can't you blow this sand away with your fire powers?" Connor asked.

"Yeah and then this sand storm becomes filled with tiny glass shards that would hurt or kill everyone," Ace claimed.

"Where would the Glass come from?"

"Glass is made from superheated sand…I'd be doing more harm than good," Ace said.

* * *

Pell flew over the city but nothing looked like a cannon or a bomb, he had seen the royal army cannons but they were too small for a blast the size that Vivi had described. Pell noticed Vivi and flew down to her, he did not land though, she was with Usopp.

"There's nothing on the rooftops," Pell warned.

"It must be inside a building then, but witch one?" Vivi asked looking at all the buildings.

"We don't have time to search them all," Usopp argued.

"I'll check the biggest ones around the square," Pell said and flew off.

"Damn it…we're out of time," Usopp cursed.

"Time….that's it," Vivi realised and stopped.

"Vivi?" Usopp asked.

Vivi turned and looked at the clock tower.

'It couldn't be hidden in there…could it?' She thought.

Vivi thought about what they knew, she knew that the bomb had to be big, she knew that it had to be somewhere hidden but in full range of the square and if it was to go off at 4:30pm exactly…it had to be somewhere it could detonate on time.

"THAT'S IT! IT'S IN THE CLOCK TOWER!" Vivi yelled.

"The clock tower?" Usopp asked and looked to where Vivi was looking "You sure?"

"Yes, there is a massive unused space at the top behind the clocks. Koza used it as a secret club house, we all hung out there every day," Vivi claimed.

"Okay, I'll call the others," Usopp said. He reached into his bag and pulled out a red smoke bomb an fired it into the air.

It exploded leaving behind a trail of smoke. Usopp and Vivi made their way to the base of the clock tower, on the way they met up with Nami and Chopper.

* * *

Zoro was on the outskirts of the city looking at the vast dessert in front of him. He was quite perplexed as to how he got here; he was at the square a few minus ago.

"Damn how did I get out here?" Zoro asked irritably.

He ran back into the city but a few second later he was back in the same spot.

"Agghhh this city is too complicated," Zoro complained.

Suddenly he heard an explosion he looked back at the city and saw Usopps signal.

"Damn how did they get over there?" Zoro asked and ran in the direction of the signal.

He ran through the streets as fast as he could looking for where the signal had come from but was having trouble, he turned down a street that lead him to a squad of Marines, they recognised him instantly.

"Crap Marines, I don't have time for this," Zoro stated and drew his swords.

"Roronoa Zoro? What are you doing in the back streets?" one of the marines asked

"I could ask you the same," Zoro hissed.

"Honestly we were told you had no sense of direction but this is ridiculous," another marine said.

"Wait…What?" Zoro asked in surprise.

"Turn back, take the first street and follow it north and you'll get to the square," a Marine pointed out.

"Ummm are we not going to fight?" Zoro asked still unsure what was going on with these marines.

"Of course not, we have a bomb to find…what are you stupid? Just go north," the Marine answered.

Zoro stared at the marine squared in shock, since when were the Marines helping them?

* * *

 _Alubana Clock Tower, 2 minutes until detonation_

Ace and Connor had seen the smoke signal and ran towards the clock tower, however there were Marines setting up a perimeter in front of them. Ace was fully prepared to fight however as they approached Tashigi came up to them.

"The others are at the clock tower…hurry," she said.

Ace cautiously moved passed her and none of the other marines made any move to stop him…it honestly disturbed him a bit. They ran towards the clock tower to find that the rest of the straw hats plus the Frye twins were there.

Zoro, Sanji and Luffy were missing though.

"Did you find it?" Ace asked.

"Yes it's in the clock tower…but we'll never get up there in time," Vivi said.

"We have just over a minute left," Chopper began to panic.

"Could we make it?" Jacob asked Evie.

"Not without our Zip lines and they were damaged in the fight with Crocodile," Evie said.

Then how are we…" Nami started but was interrupted.

"OI NAMI-SWAN, VIVI-CHAWN, EVIE-SWANNNNNN UP HERE!" Sanji's voice was heard.

The group all looked up to See Sanji about one third of the way up the tower waving form a window.

"How did he get up there?" Jacob asked.

"SANJI WHAT ARE YOU DOING UP THERE?!" Vivi yelled out.

"Well with my deductive reasoning…" Sanji started but was interrupted.

"OH THERE YOU LOT ARE!" Zoro yelled form half way up, he was higher than Sanji and on a balcony.

"ZORO!" the group on the ground yelled in surprise.

"OI MOSS HEAD WHAT ARE YOU DOING UP THERE?!" Sanji yelled angrily.

"What are you talking about? The marines kept saying go north, so I claimed this tower!" Zoro yelled back down.

"NORTH AND UP ARE NOT THE SAME THING!" Sanji shouted angrily.

"HEY YOU TWO! THE BOMBS AT THE TOP!" Ace yelled out.

"They can't get there from where they are. The only way to the top is by a stair case on the first floor," Vivi claimed.

"We don't have time to climb it," Connor urged.

"We won't have too, I have an idea," Nami smiled.

Suddenly the front Clock opened wide; two figures were seen in front of a very large cannon. Nami looked at the time; they had less than 60 seconds left.

Nami quickly had Chopper change into his reindeer form and had him stand on Usopps back with the Snipers legs wide open, Vivi was on Choppers back.

"Nami we don't have time for this," Usopp urged.

"Shut up do you want to save this city or not?" Nami shot back.

"How will this help?" Usopp asked.

"You'll see now…Cyclone Tempo!" Nami shouted, she launched her boomerang attack at Usopp.

It him square between the legs, suddenly a large gust of wind was created and Usopp was sent flying upwards.

"AGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!" Usopp screamed in both pain and terror.

"Chopper Jump onto Sanji's leg!" Nami ordered.

"WHATTT?" Chopper yelled back.

"Wait your plan is for us to fly all the way up to the top?" Vivi asked in disbelief.

Deciding that it was too late to argue Chopper jumped off Usopps back sending the sniper crashing to the ground. Sanji saw them coming he had figured out Nami's plan he jumped out of the widow and held his leg out.

Chopper landed on it and Sanji kicked him and Vivi towards Zoro, Sanji fell towards the ground. Zoro drew his swords and feel backwards off the balcony, Chopper was unsure about jumping off his swords but Zoro was using the back of his blades.

When Chopper landed on them the swordsman launched him into the air for a thirds time, and Zoro's strength was enough to send both Chopper and Vivi above the tower. Unfortunately the two numbered Agents guarding the cannon had seen Vivi and Chopper fly up, they raised their pistols at the princess.

 _BANG! BANG!_

Two shots rang out but it wasn't from the numbered agents, it came from the ground. Vivi's eye widened as both agents now had fresh holes in their foreheads and they fell out of the tower towards the ground.

Chopper changed into his human form and threw Vivi into the clock tower, Vivi drew her spiining slashers and launched them at the fuse. She cut it just in time as the clock reached 4:30.

The bomb had been stopped, but Vivi heard an ominous ticking noise.

* * *

On the ground both Jacob and Evie held a smoking rifle that they had borrowed form two marines who had come to see what they could do to help. The twins tossed the rifles back with a satisfied smirk and the numbered agents crashed to the ground.

"Nice shot," Usopp complimented.

'EVRYONE!"

The group looked up upon hearing Vivi's voice she was looking down at them in tears.

"IT'S A TIME BOMB…IT'S STILL GOING TO EXPLODE!" Vivi cried out.

The straw hat stared up at her in shock, they hadn't stopped the bomb they'd only delayed it; the city was still in danger.

"A…A…A time bomb…" Ace whispered.

"That's not right… that can't be right," Jacob claimed.

"We can't stop it…can we?" Connor asked.

"Hey is that…that bird guy?" Zoro asked as a large falcon flew into the clock tower.

* * *

Vivi was crying in despair, despite all her efforts to stop the war, despite the straw hats taking down all the numbered agents and Crocodile would still win. Suddenly Pell landed behind her.

"Well this brings back memories, the secret base of the Sand Sand gang…" Pell started.

"Pell…the bomb, it's got a timer. I don't know what to do," Vivi cried.

"You gave me know end of trouble back then, honestly what was the king thinking," Pell reminisced with a smile.

"Pell…" Vivi said in confusion.

"Vivi I have no doubt you will make a great queen one day, but for that to happen you need a kingdom to rule. I have watched you grow and I have never been more proud to be in service to the Alabastaen royal family," Pell said.

He changed back into his falcon form and gripped the bomb with his talons, he then dragged it out of the cannon and the clock tower and flew up into the skies above the city. He ignored Vivi pleas for him to come back and to stop.

Once he was above the City the Bomb exploded, but the City of Alubana was out of the blasts range and Pell was gone.


	22. Alabaster Pt 13

_**A.N I own nothing.**_

 _ **Special thanks to lionkingd15 for helping write this Chapter, it would not be as awesome as it is without your help.**_

 _ **Also check out our new combined story High Tide of Vengeance. This was a combined Project by lionkingd15 and myself set in the Straw Hats Creed universe. High Tide of Vengeance is under the pen name Author2.0, a new joint account was created for the story.**_

 _ **Note: High Tide of Vengeance will not have any impact on this story.**_

* * *

Crocodile stood over a completely dried out Luffy, he was injured and annoyed. Luffy had challenged him again this time the rubber captain had come prepared and used his barrel of water to his advantage. Crocodile was extremely angry at Luffy's unusual battle tactics and his anger was fuelled by the fact that the younger pirate had actually gotten a few good hits in.

Crocodile had gotten serious and turned the whole front of the palace into a mini dessert, the trees, grass ground and even statues had turned to sand. Luffy had stretched up to the top of the palace to avoid the attack but Crocodile had followed him.

In his last attack Luffy had spat out three large shots of water but Crocodile had dogged them effortlessly and drained all the moisture out of Luffy's body.

"I can't believe he gave me so much trouble," Crocodile said.

He looked over his shoulder towards the clock tower.

"Less than seven minutes…perfect," He smiled "Now where did Miss All-Sunday go to?" Crocodile asked himself and dissolved into sand.

Once he was gone a familiar looking white robed man appeared next to Luffy, he looked down at the pirate's dried up corpse and shook his head. Suddenly three large balls of water fell on Luffy and landed with a splash, Luffy shot up completely rehydrated.

"WAHHHHHH!" he screamed "That was close I thought I was dead,"

The man in the white robe looked up at the sky in confusion; there were no clouds in the area not to mention the massive drought the country was in. So where had that water come from?

Luffy stood up and looked around, he noticed that he was not alone.

"Hey…you're the guy from Rainbase…" Luffy stated.

"I am," the man in white said looking at the Rubber captain.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to kill Crocodile, looks like I just missed him,"

"That's right!" Luffy suddenly remembered and looked around desperately "Which way did he go?"

"I'll show you if you answer my question,"

"Okay but make it quick," Luffy agreed.

"Where did that water come from?"

"Oh I shot it up into the sky," Luffy answered.

'He shot it up into the sky? Was he taking measures to ensure his survival…did he know he was going to lose? He must have an amazing tactical mind,' the man in white thought highly Impressed.

"I'm kind of glad I missed," Luffy continued.

"Wait…you missed?" the other man asked in surprise.

"Yeah I was aiming for Crocodile, he dodged and I became a corpse," Luffy said rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"So…you didn't plan on using the water to rehydrate yourself?"

"Nope that was just lucky," Luffy answered.

The man in white frowned, so it was just a coincidence.

"So where did Croc go?" Luffy asked.

The man in white turned his back to Luffy and his eyes turned yellow, he surveyed the area and found what he was looking for. A glowing yellow trail headed off to the east.

"Follow me," he said without looking back at Luffy and took off into a run.

Luffy followed him; he was starting to like this guy.

"Hey what's your Name?" Luffy asked.

The man hesitated for a second before answering.

"Altaïr," He answered.

"Hi Altiy, I'm Luffy," Luffy grinned.

"Don't call me that," Altaïr warned and his eye twitched.

"How about Ally?"

"No,"

"Airey?"

"No,"

"…Novice?"

"DEFIANTLY NOT!"

"Altiy it is then,"

"How about my name," Altaïr hissed.

"Yeah but I can't pronounce that," Luffy whined.

Altaïr groaned he was probably going to wind up breaking the first rule of the creed again.

Altaïr ran through the streets leading Luffy to Crocodile, the Assassin took great care to insure that Luffy did not see his glowing yellow eyes, they rounded a corner and Altaïr switched his eyes back to normal, ahead of them was an intersection where the path split into three other directions and in the centre was Tashigi.

She was on her knees crying, she had several cuts and a large gash across her forehead, around her were the bodies of injured Marines, most were just unconscious but a few were dead. Tashigi picked up her sword and pointed it at both Luffy and Altaïr as they approached.

"You're with Smoky right…What happened here? Did you see Crocodile?" Luffy asked urgently.

Tashigi glared at them, Crocodile had passed her by. He had mocked her and the marines before walking off laughing. Suddenly three squads of Marines came running in and surrounded Luffy and Altaïr.

"Lieutenant are you all right?" one marine asked.

"No…No I'm not…" Tashigi hissed angrily.

"Did Straw Hat do this?" another asked examining the fallen Marines.

"No it was Nico Robin," Tashigi answered, she then looked at Luffy and Altaïr.

"They passed by here…the king said there was a bomb. Is that true?" she asked.

"Yes…his crew are looking for it," Altaïr claimed.

"I see…Crocodile went that way," Tashigi pointed down the east path. "Let them pass,"

"Lieutenant…are you sure they're…" a Marine started.

"I said let them pass…we have bigger worries than a couple of wanted criminals. Everyone is ordered to search for the bomb and lend any and all support to the Straw Hats." Tashigi ordered.

The Marines looked at each other unsure what to make of the order. But Tashigi's determined expression left no room for argument and they broke off into groups to look for the bomb.

Luffy ran off down the east path but Altaïr remained, he stared at the Lieutenant.

"You just ordered your men to help pirates, you could be considered a criminal for that," Altaïr stated.

"A Shichibukai who the government employed is going to wipe out this city and everyone in it and pirates are trying to save it…I don't know what's right anymore," Tashigi answered.

"It makes you wonder who the true villains are Pirates or the Marines," Altaïr agreed.

"And you…where do you fit into it? Why are you helping Straw Hat?"

"I'm not, I don't exist. Your Navy saw to that,"

"The world is not divided into black and white, Marines and Pirates,"

"You're right, the world is a blood red…a big bloody mess and the sooner you realize that the longer you'll live," Altaïr claimed "open your eyes or keep them closed, it does not matter to me which you chose. But if you do open them you may not like what you see,"

Tashigi watched Altaïr run off after Luffy; she briefly contemplated his words before she ran off to help look for the bomb. He did not have to run far because just up a head Luffy was lying on the ground asleep.

Altaïr paused to look at the rubber pirate before continuing on by himself. He came into an area that looked like a large grave yard, though there were no headstones there was a large Mausoleum that was guarded by two very large Jackal statues and the area was well looked after. Off to the side was a small hidden hatch that led underground.

Altaïr walked up to it and activated his second sight, the yellow trail led down under ground.

"Of course they're underground…nothing is ever easy," he complained.

Altaïr took a deep breath before entering the underground passage; he walked down the stairs silently and followed the hall to an open chamber. He hid behind a pillar and peaked into the room.

Inside Crocodile and Miss All-Sunday were in front of a large blue stone slab with writing carved into it.

'A Ponyglyph…the ancient weapon's location is supposed to be inscribed on there,' Altaïr thought.

"Have you deciphered it?" Crocodile asked.

"Almost…I'm on the last line now," Miss All-Sunday answered.

Altaïr's eyes widened, there was someone still alive who could read the Ponyglyphs.

"Done," Miss-All Sunday announced.

"So where is it? Where is Pluton?" Crocodile asked eagerly.

"That's not written here," Miss All Sunday said.

"W…What?"

"All that is written here is history; it dates back about 800 years. The word Pluton does not appear once nor is there any mention of it," Miss All-Sunday claimed.

Crocodile looked at his partner in shock…if what she was saying was true then he had wasted three years, his eyes fell on the King and he was looking just as surprised as he was.

"I see…maybe the weapon does not exist but I have a feeling even if its location was written on here you would not tell me," Crocodile said calmly.

Miss Sunday turned around and looked at the Shichibukai in surprise. She quickly pulled out a small glass vile filled with water out of her coat and threw it at Crocodile. The war lord dodged but an arm grew out of his back and smashed it on him.

Robin charged at Crocodile with a knife but Crocodile was faster and more experienced, he sliced his partner across the side of her hip. Miss All-Sunday collapsed and struggled to move as Crocodile bent down to her, she was in a lot of pain and blood was pouring out of her wound.

"Miss All-Sunday…You're fired," Crocodile said.

Miss All-Sunday looked at the war lord in fear as he was about to finish her off, swirls of air began to form behind him and Altaïr appeared, Crocodile quickly dissolved into sand just as the Assassin's blade was about to pierce his heart.

Altaïr's hidden blade did not hit its target instead it came deadly close to going into Miss-All Sunday's eye; stopping mere inchers from it. The assassin pulled it back in to its holster and faced Crocodile; he had re-assembled himself.

"Hello Crocodile, I believe I told you I was coming for you," Altaïr said.

Crocodile stood on the other side of the chamber, away from Altaïr.

"Y…You're the Mentor?" He asked in fear.

"I am and your life is mine to take,"

"Not if I take yours first," Crocodile yelled and launched himself at Altaïr.

Altaïr made no move to doge the attack in fact he just stood there. Just as Crocodile was in front of the Assassin and right before he could attack a foot kicked him in the jaw and sent him crashing through a wall.

Altaïr smirked.

Altaïr and robin looked and saw the foot was attached to an outstretched leg.

"CROCODILE!" Luffy screamed in rage.

"Oh you're still alive," He said to Luffy.

"Shut up, I just needed a quick nap," Luffy defended.

Luffy walked over to Altaïr and took note of Robin and the King. Crocodile pushed himself up and glared at Luffy. How many times did he have to kill that boy.

Suddenly the tomb began to shake as walls crumble, pillars started to collapse and bricks fell out of place. Luffy, Crocodile and Altaïr looked around in confusion.

"What's going on…it's too soon for the bomb to go off," Crocodile claimed, he still had at least five minutes before it exploded.

"I can't let you leave," The King suddenly said, attracting everyone's attention.

"What did you do?" Crocodile demanded.

"This tomb was designed to collapse if a certain brick was removed. After everything that you have done to my country and my daughter…I will bury you with me," the King declared.

"You fool…I'm made of sand, I may get buried but I won't die," Crocodile smirked "You on the other hand will,"

"No you won't, I will end you" Altaïr claimed.

"If you can kill me before you get crushed," Crocodile laughed.

Luffy ran up and punched Crocodile in the face the force of the punch sent him into a nearby pillar. The pillar broke and Crocodile glared at Luffy.

"How did you...?" Crocodile started.

"I figured it out, you're vulnerable to water, which is why you stole the rain however, blood is a liquid too and it works just as well," Luffy said seriously, his fist was cut and dripping with blood.

Altaïr dashed past Luffy and with his sword drawn and stabbed at Crocodile. Despite the fact that he had thrust his sword too early and he did not hit Crocodile with his blade, the warlord was still thrown back by an invisible force. Altaïr raised his arm and snapped his fingers, the ceiling above Crocodile exploded and debris fell on the warlord.

The debris dissolved and Crocodile launched the sand at the Assassin, Altaïr brought his sword down and not only cut through the sand but the very air itself. Crocodile reassembled himself and glared at the Mentor.

"That was so COOL!" Luffy shouted "How did you do that?"

"I ate the Kaze-Kaze no Mi(Wind-Wind) like Crocodile I too am a Logia type user, he controls sand and I control the wind," Altaïr answered.

"How did you make the debris fall on him?"

"You would be surprised what a little displaced air can do," Altaïr smirked as small air currents swirled around his sword.

Crocodile snorted and removed his golden claw to reveal a slightly thinner hook underneath that it had holes into it and from those holes dripped purple ooze, the ooze melted away the ground it touched.

"Well then let's see you stand up to my scorpion venom," Crocodile goaded.

"First you're a crocodile then you're a scorpion make up your mind," Luffy said.

Luffy and Altaïr charged at Crocodile, the assassin sliced at the war lord's sternum however Crocodile dissolved his midsection into sand which allowed the sword to pass through, Luffy took the opportunity to slam his fist into Crocodile's face and sent him flying.

Luffy tried to get in another punch, however Crocodile was ready for it he dodged the fist and sliced Luffy's arm with his hook, Luffy gritted his teeth from the pain he then hit Crocodile in the chest with his other fist.

"You're pretty tough kid, but not tough enough!" Crocodile yelled he tried to slice Luffy in half with his hook but Altaïr blocked the blow with his sword and pushed Crocodile away with a strong force of wind.

"Thanks," Luffy said.

"Don't mention it," Altaïr replied.

The two continued to battle the war lord however Altaïr was starting to slow down and Crocodile took notice, Luffy had taken a few hits with Crocodile's scorpion venom and it was quickly making its way through the rubber captain's system. Luffy refused to give up though and kept up the pressure while the tomb collapsed around them.

Robin had managed to crawl over to the King and they both watched the fight unfold. After a particularly powerful punch by Luffy Altaïr disappeared and reappeared behind the warlord and slashed him across the back before stabbing him in the ribs with his hidden blade.

Crocodile coughed up blood and suddenly felt incredibly weak he swung his hooked arm at the Assassin but it went right through him. Luffy then punched the warlord in the stomach further injuring him.

Altaïr removed the blade and he and Luffy watched as Crocodile struggled to get back up.

"Ha…Ha HA HAAA! Times up," Crocodile laughed.

Luffy and Altaïr froze but nothing happened then a loud explosion was heard.

"Oh looks like they found the bomb…not that it did much good. I set it on a timer and it still went off. This kingdom is mine," Crocodile claimed confidently.

"No…IT"S NOT!" Luffy screamed and began the fight again.

Altaïr didn't join in he was too busy focusing on the now almost buried exit. The bomb may have gone off but it had missed its target.

'It must have detonated above the city…if it hadn't then the explosion would've come in here already,' the assassin thought.

"Give it up Straw Hat, you can't win against me, plus the poison will finish you off soon enough," Crocodile claimed.

"Not until you give back what you stole," Luffy demanded.

"I've stolen lots of things, money power, rain…what do you expect me to give back?"

"The kingdom," Luffy answered seriously.

"The kingdom? I haven't stolen that yet," Crocodile said.

"Yes you have, you stole it the moment you set foot on this Island. If you hadn't then Vivi wouldn't be crying!" Luffy shouted, he grab Crocodile by his shirt and punched him so hard the warlord was flung up through the stone ceiling and bedrock.

"GOMU-GOMU…GATTLING" Luffy yelled and unleashed a barrage of punches at the warlord that kept forcing him higher and higher.

Altaïr drew all the air he could form the chamber and sent it up in a massive burst at Crocodile, it was risky because now they would have nothing to breath.

Crocodile took the attacks and the combined force was enough to break through a tower on the ground level above them and take him down once and for all.

Altaïr use the newly destroyed tower and drew the air back into the chamber, it would not hold on for much longer.

Luffy took a deep breath and walked over to the King and Robin, he picked them both intending to escape with them.

"No…Leave me here, I have nothing left to live for," Robin claimed.

"You know…I have no reason to listen to you," Luffy shot back.

He took two steps forward before collapsing on the ground and dropping both Robin and the King Altaïr sighed; Luffy had finally succumbed to his injuries and the poison.

"Please…help him," the King begged.

Altaïr grabbed all three and a very large tornado formed around them, the King and Robin closed their eyes to shield them from the dust. The winds died down, Robin and the King found themselves above ground.

Altaïr knelt down to Luffy, he reached into one of his pouches and pulled out a vial with a clear liquid inside. He tilted Luffy's head back and poured the liquid down his throat before holding the pirates nose forcing him to swallow it.

"What was that?" the King asked.

"Antidote, it should nullify the poison but if you want him to live he'll need immediate medical treatment," Altaïr warned.

The King nodded and looked at Luffy gratefully for a second, when he turned back to Altaïr the man was gone and a small but gentle breeze blew past him.

And then…it began to rain.


	23. Alabaster Pt 14

_**A.n I own nothing.**_

 _ **Sorry for the late update, my laptop broke down and I had to send it away again as the technicians thought it was a problem with the Motherboard. Thankfully that was not the case.**_

 _ **Also I should have done this last chapter, the Kaze-Kaze no Mi(Wind-Wind Fruit) was the first place entry in the Devil Fruits Competition towards the end of last year. It was created by KuramaFTW and as promised was given to The Assassin Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad. To KuramaFTW I do apologise for not crediting you for your fruit last chapter in it's reveal.**_

* * *

Vivi sat in a large infirmary next to Luffy's bed, staring out the window and watching the rain fall; finally after three years of the rain had returned. After she had seen Crocodiles beaten and broken from fly into the air the rain had started and her people finally stopped fighting long enough to listen to her as she exposed Crocodile's lies.

Vivi ran down from the clock tower and when she got to the ground level the Straw Hats and the assassins were gone. She had looked for them and found them trying to sneak away in one of the back streets; they were talking to her father. The King was very happy that his daughter was alive and offered his palace as a place for them to rest without fear of the Marines.

The Straw Hats had accepted the offer and Sanji reminded Vivi that Luffy would be hungry when he woke up.

That was hours ago, and the Straw Hats had been brought in for treatment by the royal army. The soldiers who brought them in were sworn to secrecy and the saviours of Alabasta now slept peacefully in the infirmary with their injuries treated.

* * *

On the palace roof,

Altair was standing on the palace roof in the rain, looking at the sky. His robs were dripping wet and he was cold but he ignored it; the Mentor had a very determined look on his face, like he was concentrating on something. Suddenly a white clear see through umbrella obstructed his view and shielded him from the rain, Altair knew that someone was behind him but he did not look away still focusing on the sky.

"You know, for someone who is weak to water you sure are covered in it," a new voice joked in a thick Italian accent.

"Where's Malik?" Altaïr asked.

"He's busy; he found an incredibly injured survivor and is taking care of him. Where's Crocodile?" the other man responded.

"The Marines took him away before I could finish him off," Altair answered.

"I see…and the twins?"

"In the palace resting,"

"They're still alive?" the other man asked in surprise.

"For now, the King has yet to make his decision," Altaïr answered "we can't help them,"

"I know," the other man said regretfully.

They stood there in silence listing to the rain pelt the umbrella.

"So…" the man said trying to start a conversation "I find it's a bit suspicious that the rain falls as soon as Crocodile is defeated in a country suffering from a three year drought,"

"I am drawing in clouds from the ocean to form rain clouds and manipulating the air currents to prevent them from leaving," Altaïr answered.

"That must be difficult,"

"It is,"

"It obviously requires your full attention,"

"It does,"

"So I should stop talking then?"

"Yes you should,"

The other man sighed and removed his umbrella, he was about to walk off when Altaïr stopped him.

"I did not say that you had to leave," Altaïr said.

The other man retook his position and the two stood under the umbrella together overlooking the city.

* * *

The rain lasted all through the day and night and the next day, it showed no signs of stopping. That mid-morning Jacob and Evie were the first to wake up, much to Vivi's delight.

"You're up," Vivi said happily once the twins sat up.

They looked around half asleep, noticing the other Straw Hats and taking note of everything in the room.

"Where are we?" Evie asked.

"A Special infirmary in the palace, some guards found you and my father had you all brought here to rest," Vivi answered.

"Found us?" Jacob asked.

"Yes you, Ace and the others were all sleeping on the ground in an ally way,"

"Oh…right…I wasn't drunk was I?" Jacob asked.

Vivi laughed at his response and Evie just sighed.

"No, but do you need anything?" Vivi asked.

"Umm would a late breakfast be too much to ask?" Jacob requested as his stomach growled.

"I'll have someone send something up. But you'll have to eat it in the next room, I don't want to wake the others," Vivi said.

"That's fine," Evie agreed.

Vivi stood up and left the room she came back a few seconds later claiming that the food was being prepared. After then minutes a guard came in and informed the twins that their food was ready for them.

"That was fast," Evie commented.

"I've had the kitchens on standby since we got back," Vivi reasoned.

Vivi helped the twins into a side room that connected to the infirmary and there were three plates set out with food. The twins sat down and began eating and Vivi joined them.

"Not bad for a last meal," Jacob said, once they had finished eating.

"If you want more I can have some brought up," Vivi offered.

"Awfully generous of you, so when's the execution date," Jacob commented.

"What do you mean?"

"Your father is the King and we are notorious killers," Evie pointed out.

"Oh…right you see…" Vivi started but did not get to finish as the door burst opened and several guards led by Chaka walked in.

"You two will come with us, do not try to resist," Chaka warned.

"So that's how it is is it?" Jacob sighed.

"We're in no condition to fight…let alone resit," Evie pointed out.

"Well let's get this over with," Jacob said, he stood up and raised his hands in surrender. Evie did the same.

The guards surrounded them and escorted the two Assassins out of the room, they kept there weapons trained on the twins at all times. Vivi followed them Chaka led them to the throne room where the King awaited them.

He was sitting on his throne and he eyed the two critically as the guards stopped them near the base of the throne.

"On your knees," one guard hissed.

"The last person to say that to me wound up with both his legs broken at his knees and a spike up his ass," Jacob warned dangerously.

The guards gripped their weapons tighter ready for the Assassin to strike.

"Jacob," Evie warned.

"What? He did," Jacob shrugged.

The king looked at the two, he had herd of these twins and their reputation was rightly earned. The government had put a high price on their heads and Cobra knew that the reward would go a long way to rebuilding Alabasta.

However Vivi had claimed that they were her body guards, to say the King was shocked was an understatement. Here were two of the notorious killers on the Grand Line and they had helped save the country. Had the king not witnessed them hold off Crocodile then he would have never believed it.

But the question remained what was he going to do with them.

"My daughter says you are her body guards and that you escorted her through the battlefield so she could reach the palace alive," The King spoke.

"You forgot good looking," Jacob joked and Evie hit him on the head.

"We did that your majesty," Evie confirmed.

"Why?" he king asked.

"Do we need a reason?" Jacob asked back.

"You two are well known for your brutality and lethality. You kill Nobles and Royals alike. No one ever sees you coming and no one know how to contact you or how you pick your targets. So yes you need a reason," the King said seriously.

"Hear that Sister we're famous, enough for a King to notice us," Jacob said in a mocking tone.

Evie rolled her eyes and Jacob turned his attention back to the King.

"Flattery will get you everywhere," He joked but the King was not laughing.

"Fine we were asked," Jacob stated.

"You were asked…did my daughter ask you?"

"It was the boy with the Straw Hats. He asked to help and we accepted," Evie claimed.

"A boy…why did you agree?"

"Because they helped us, plus we were supposed to be looking into Baroque Works for the Brotherhood. They were our real employers and the Straw Hats goal aligned with ours," Evie said quickly.

"The…The Brotherhood…You work for the Brotherhood?"

"Worked, we don't anymore no Baroque Works no contract….I hope we get danger pay," Evie clarified.

"So that explains it," the King said calming down.

"Explains what?" Vivi asked.

"I saw the Mentor…he defeated Crocodile with Straw Hat," the King claimed "He saved us and…he left me alive,"

Jacob and Evie looked at each other, they knew that the mentor was in this country bit they had no idea that he actively participated in the battle.

"So…are we dying today?" Jacob asked.

"No, you helped save my daughter so I will ignore your presence here, however I hope never to see you two in my country again…or the Brotherhood," the King said and ordered the guards to stand down.

Vivi breathed a sigh of relief; she was glad that her friends weren't going to be killed.

"Come on let's get back to the others," Vivi offered, Jacob and Evie followed Vivi out of the room.

Once they were gone Chaka addressed the king.

"Are you sure this is wise?" the advisor asked.

"We are not punishing Koza and his men for their part in this war so I see no reason to punish those that ended it," the king reasoned.

"Sire, housing pirates is one thing but the Frye twins is another matter"

"I know but those two stood up to Crocodile and held him off, what chance do we have against that? Let them recover and leave the country in peace, it is not much of a reward but it is the only thing we can offer," the king finished.

Suddenly one the doors blew open by a strong gust of wind, the guards in the throne room got on guard and a piece of paper blew in; it landed in front of the throne. Chaka down and picked it up, his eyes widened as he read what was written on it.

Chaka handed it to the King and he read the note.

"Wise Decision," the note read and underneath was the symbol of the Brotherhood.

* * *

Ace was to wake up, but after he saw Luffy and threatened the twins he fell back to sleep again. Slowly one by one the Straw Hats woke up and by the end of the day all but Luffy had woken up. Chopper had immediately begun to examine the rest of the crew and made medicine that would help speed up the recovery time. The others were content to just rest in bed and silently chat to each other, Zoro however immediately began training.

Not long after dinner that night Vivi told Connor that her father wanted a word with him in private, Connor had no idea why, if the King wanted to thank the crew he should wait until Luffy recovered. Vivi went with Connor to see her father; he wasn't gone long, just ten minutes. When he got back he had a very stunned look on his face and Vivi was smiling.

"What did the King want?" Usopp asked.

"He…He wants to adopt me…He offered to make me a prince," Connor said still stunned from the offer.

"That's great," Nami said happily.

"Yeah congrats kid," Zoro agreed.

"But what about…you know your condition?" Sanji asked.

"I explained it to my father and he understands, but he still made the offer," Vivi claimed.

"So…he'd be safe here?" Chopper asked.

"Oh yes…unless of course another Shichibukai tries to start another civil war," Vivi joked.

"So did you accept?" Jacob asked.

Connor shook his head.

"I need some time to think about it," He said.

"Well…we'll be here until Luffy recovers, just know that whatever you decided we will respect that decision," Zoro assured.

"My decision?" Connor asked.

"Yeah, it's your so it's your choice," Nami agreed.

Connor nodded and sat on his bed, he needed some time to think. The King had assured him that none out side would ever know the truth and if he accepted he would be a very welcome addition to the Royal family. Even though Vivi would still inherit the throne of Alabasta first, he would have an advisory role once he was old enough and until then he would be educated in History, Medicine, Science, Warfare and Politics. Connor would have everything he had been denied including a home and a family.

'But I would lose them,' Connor thought.

He looked over at the Straw Hats, he still had not accepted or declined Luffys offer. So far he had stayed with them first out of force due to his brand and once they had been caught up in Crocodiles plot it would have been suicide to leave.

But now he could, with Crocodile gone he was no longer in any danger and he did not have a bounty yet plus according to Nami and the others Luffy's wanted poster had the crime Kidnapping on it, he was fairly sure that was due to him sailing with them.

"I could leave…I could have my life back and no one would order me around anymore. But then… why dose the thought of leaving make me feel so sad?" Connor whispered to himself.

Connor lay down and pulled the covers over him, he'd think about it tomorrow.

* * *

The next morning when everyone woke up, the twins were gone and the rain had stopped. Their beds were made neatly and there was two letters left behind one on Jacobs's bed addressed to Connor and one on Evie's addressed to the Straw Hat Crew.

The one addressed to the Straw Hat Crew was a farewell letter from the twins. The letter thanked the crew for helping Evie on Little Garden and for the ride back to Alabasta; it wished both Vivi and her Father luck in rebuilding their country and apologised for any inconvenience they had caused as well as sneaking off without saying goodbye.

It also assured the King and the Princess that if something like this happened again they could count on their help.

Connor had to get Nami to read his letter for him; it was along the same lines as the other one. The letter apologised for stabbing him and making him spy on his friends. It also stated how both Jacob and Evie were honoured to have met him and the crew; despite Jacob attacking him he hoped they could be friends.

It also advised him that he should not think too hard on the Kings offer because that always made it harder and the answer was right in front of him.

"Well I say good riddance," Ace said once Nami had finished reading the letter.

"They weren't that bad," Vivi claimed.

"They had a kid spying on you and passing your location on to one of the most dangerous groups in the world…how is that not bad?" Ace asked.

"Considering what was at stake and what would have happened if Crocodile had got his hands on the Ancient weapon…I don't blame them. In fact I would have done the same thing," Vivi said.

"Is this Brotherhood really that bad?" Zoro asked.

"Yes, you've only been on the Grand Line for a short time so I'm not surprised that you haven't herd of them. But mark my words they are dangerous," Ace said seriously.

"But Jacob and Evie are nice," Connor said innocently.

"No their not, they're one the most efficient and deadly killers in the world and rumour has it that they're the Brotherhoods top agents," Ace said.

"So what is this Brotherhood then?" Zoro asked.

"It's a secret order of Assassins; no one knows how they pick their targets, how to contact them or even where their base is. But no matter where they go death always follows behind them," Vivi answered.

"So if they're a secret then how do you two know about them?" Sanji asked.

"Well…they generally target leaders and individuals of high standing, as a princess I am a potential target," Vivi admitted "All nobles and Royals know about them and they can strike at any time,"

"Yeah all the big name Pirates in the world fear them too, even pops," Ace said.

"Whitebeard fears them?" Zoro asked in surprise.

"With good reason too. The Government, The Shichibukai, and even the Admirals all fear the Brotherhood. It got so bad the about five years ago an alliance was formed to take them out…permanently," Ace said seriously.

"Apparently the Government got a tip off about the Brotherhoods home base and they wanted it eliminated, so they formed an Alliance to take it down. This Alliance was formed between the World Government, the Shichibukai and some very powerful Pirates. Pops was sent an invitation to join but he turned it down," Ace explained.

"What happened?" Usopp asked.

"They failed, no one knows what happened but the ships went to the base and had it surrounded…but they suddenly fell unconscious and when they came to the Brotherhood was gone,"

"What about their base?" Nami asked.

"In ruins, all records books and anything that could have pointed to how or where they went was destroyed and it got worse. For the next week a massive murder spree happened all across the world, bodies were found dead everywhere, every night the body count increased and the Brotherhood was to blame,"

"How do you know?" Chopper asked shaking in fear.

"Because everyone who died was part of the Alliance to bring the Brotherhood down, and they left their calling card on each body as a warning…A blood stained white feather," Ace finished.

The Straw Hats stared at Ace in shock and horror, clearly this Brotherhood was worse than Baroque Works and they had met the two top agents…they really hoped that they had not just become the next targets.

"How do you know this?" Connor asked.

Ace looked at the boy with a serious expression.

"Because Pop's second fleet was part of the Alliance and they all died, it took over three years for Pops to re-establish it and I took over it about a year ago. Pops was furious, he wanted revenge and called the Brotherhood out and they came for him,"

"The Brotherhood fought Whitebeard?" Vivi gasped

"More like they accepted his challenge and Pops ordered us to stay out of it; he brought his first mate to be a witness to the fight and the Mentor brought a witness too,"

"Who won?" Zoro asked.

"The Mentor, but he did not kill Pops. He left him alive," Ace said sadly.

"Why?"

"According to our sides witness…the Mentor claimed that the Pops was more valuable alive and his death would unleash unimaginable chaos across the world," Ace claimed.


	24. Alabaster Pt 15

_**A.n I own nothing.**_

* * *

Nami was going through some books in the palace library about the unseal climates of various Islands on the grand line and its weather system. She was sitting at a table reading a very interesting theory about it when Chaka approached her.

"Chaka, can I help you with something?" Nami asked looking up at the royal adviser.

"No I just wanted to thank you for bringing the Princess back," Chaka claimed.

"We were happy to help," Nami smiled.

"I also wanted to tell you how impressed I am; I heard you took down Mr 1's partner,"

"That wasn't just me Connor helped," Nami claimed.

"I know I already congratulated him. Still taking down a Top Baroque Works agent and a devil fruit user is no small feat," Chaka said.

"Yeah…" Nami said but trailed off.

"Is something the Matter?"

"Chaka Vivi says you're a fruit user too right?"

"Of course, I ate the Inu-Inu: Model Jackal no Mi (Dog-Dog) It's a Zoan type," Chaka confirmed.

"Have you heard of Sea Stone?"

"Yes, it's a type minearal that causes fruit users to lose our strength,"

"Where does it come from?"

"It's only found at the bottom of the ocean in certain parts of the Grand Line, the government mines it…Why do you ask?"

"Crocodiles cell was made out of the stuff and Smokers weapon had some of it too,"

"That makes sense; they both work for the Government after all,"

"I suppose…Hey can you do me a favour?"

"Of course, what is it?" Chaka asked

"Follow me," Nami said, she stood up and made her way out of the library.

Chaka followed Nami wondering what the favour was, he became concerned when they approached the infirmary where the Straw Hats were supposed to be staying. Inside Luffy was still sleeping with Vivi sitting by his bedside, Chopper was making medicine with the older court physion watching in awe at his skills and Connor was staring off into space thoughtfully.

Sanji had gone into town to stock up on supplies and Usopp had gone with him to give the cook a hand carrying things. Zoro was nowhere in sight so Nami assumed that he had gone training again and Ace was reading the newspaper on his bed.

Vivi looked over to the too as they walked in.

"Nami, I didn't expect you back so soon," Vivi said.

"I just need to test something," Nami claimed and walked over to Connors bed.

Connor spent most the morning of the day thinking about Vivi's offer, he sat on his bed in silence. Usopp and Chopper thought he was down and tried to cheer him up but Nami just hit them and told them to leave Connor alone before she had gone to the palace's Library.

"Hey Connor can I borrow your sword for a bit?" Nami asked.

Connor looked at her in confusion, but he nodded and gestured to the head of his bed where his sword was hanging off the bed post.

"Thank you," Nami said and unsheathed the blade.

"Ace, Chopper I need you to help me with something," Nami said walking back over to Chaka.

Chopper and Ace both stooped what they were doing and came over to Nami. Nami put Connors sword on the table.

"What do you need?" Ace asked.

"I have a theory I want to test, I just need each of you to touch the hilt and part of this blade," Nami instructed.

"Okay," Ace said and reached out put two fingers on the hilt. Chopper and Chaka did the same.

"Feel any different?" Nami asked.

"No," they all answered in at the same time.

"Okay now the blade…just don't touch the edge," Nami warned.

The three moved their hands to the flat part of the blade; their hands completely covered one side of the small sword. The moment they touched it they felt very weak. Chaka fell to one knee and was struggling not to collapse, Ace immediately pulled his hand away and stumbled back sweating, he stared at the sword in shock.

Chopper being the smallest collapsed on the table and was unable to move.

"What the hell…that felt like…"Ace stared.

"Sea stone?" Nami finished.

"Yes," Ace hissed.

Nami moved Choppers hoof off the sword and the little doctor's strength slowly returned.

"I thought so," Nami said and returned the sword to Connors sheathe.

"You knew?" Chaka asked.

"No, but every time Connor cut or landed a strike on Miss Double Finger she got weaker and her powers disappeared. If Ace and Smoker hadn't told us about it in Crocodile's cage, I wouldn't have figured it out," Nami explained.

"But Smokers Jite was only tipped with it…that blade must be made completely out of it," Ace said.

"Where did you get it?" Chaka asked, feeling a bit better.

"I stole it from a pirate in the East Blue, it was part of his treasure hoard," Nami claimed.

"Nice find, but why is the hilt not made of Sea stone itself?" Ace asked.

"Perhaps whoever made it, made it for a Devil fruit user, so they would have an advantage on their opponents," Chaka suggested.

"Maybe, but what could you do with a dull edged sword?" Ace added.

"It's not dull," Nami claimed. She pressed her finger lightly against the edge and a small trickle of blood ran down the sword.

"So we have a sword not only made out of quite possibly the rarest Metal in the world and is deceptively dull…anyone know who could do that?" Nami asked while putting the blade back in its sheathe.

No one answered.

"What's sea stone?" Connor asked curiously.

Ace and Nami looked at him but remembered that he wasn't there when the Straw Hats had been told. Ace explained it to him and how his sword was virtually indestructible. Connor turned his head and looked at his blade, now a lot of things were starting to make sense.

His sword never had dents and never needed sharpening, back at the Bartiee it had blocked Pearls attack that would have shattered a regular sword and it could cut through a Sea Kings tough scales like paper.

'I never knew I had something so valuable…I hope I'm aloud to keep it,' Connor thought.

* * *

 _Alabastion Coast Line_

Miss All-Sunday slowly approached the shore line, in front of her was an impressive vessel and the Straw Hats ship; she looked up at it enviously. Luffy had taken down Crocodile, her one source of guaranteed protection from her enemies was gone and not only that but so was her last hope.

Miss All-Sunday sat down leaning against a large boulder, thinking on what to do next; suddenly she herd footsteps approach.

"But Mentor everything worked out," a farimler vvioce said.

"I don't care, you put our intre operation at reisk and nearly broke the first rule," another deeper voice responded "Had that boy died you would have too,"

"I know those pirets were pretty scary. But he didn't and Baroque works is no more,"

Miss All-Sunday watched in shock and fear as Altair walked past, Jacob and Evie followed and bringing up the rear was another white hooded man, he gave her a wink.

"Mentors, isn't that Nico Robin?" Evie asked.

"So it is," the last man said in an Italian accent.

"Should we finish her off?" Jacob asked.

Robin stared at the Assassins in fear.

"Why? She was not our target today," Altaïr said and boarded the ship.

"But…"

"He's right; there has been enough death in this contrary. We shall not add any more to it," the last man said and boarded the ship.

Jacob and Evie looked at each other and followed their Mentors onto their ship. Malick came out on deck and greeted them.

"Oh your back and no solders, Marines or guards on your tail…this must be a first for you Novice," Malik said.

The other three chuckled a bit but a quick glare from Altair shut them up.

"Where were you?" Altaïr asked.

"I was tending to a Royal guard named Pell, he was the one who saved the city from Crocodiles Bomb. Did Ezio not tell you?" Malik claimed.

"I did, how is he?" the Italian one now known as Ezio asked.

"He will live and has at least another week in bed ahead of him. I left him in the hands of a capable doctor in Alubana," Malik claimed.

"That's good, shall we head home then?" Ezio asked.

"Yes and once we do these two will be punished," Altaïr gestured at the Frye twins.

"Me? What did I do?" Evie asked concerned.

"You're supposed to stop Jacob from doing stupid things…you failed," Altaïr claimed.

"You can't be serious," Evie said.

Altair glared at her.

"Fine…I just hope we don't have to clean Achilles Library again," Evie sighed.

"Don't worry I'm sure Achilles has other jobs you two can do," Ezio assured.

The twins groaned and the Assassin ship set off.

* * *

 _Alubana, The Royal Palace,_

Luffy woke up later that afternoon and just as Sanji had predicted he was hungry and concerned that he didn't have his hat, thankfully it was by his bedside were Vivi had left it so the crises of the missing hat was averted.

Vivi immediately sent word to the kitchen to prepare the feast that she had promised Luffy and the others, she also sent one of the servants to inform her father and ask if he would join them.

"A feast you say?" the King asked the servant.

"Yes your majesty, the Princess claims she promised her guests a feast and requests your presence for it," the servant answered while bowing to the King.

"Well…I suppose I could do with an early dinner, very well please tell my daughter I accept," the King smiled.

The servant nodded and ran off to relay the message. A short time later in the Dining Hall the King found himself in the most chaotic feast he had ever attended, Okay sure he had never had a feast with pirates before but still, he had hoped they knew how to eat properly.

The straw has had stared grabbing food the moment it was set out on the table and shoved it down their throats, the servers were having a hard time keeping up with them. Luffys arms were going everywhere and stealing everyone else's food, Zoro was drinking the castle out of their liquor supply, Sanji was chatting to the servers about the food and Chopper was trying to shove everything in his mouth at once.

Usopp started to putting extra hot sauce in his servings so when Luffy grabbed from his plate he got a little surprise, Connor was shoving food and drink in his mouth just like the rest of them and Ace was the only one eating like a normal person.

The King had suddenly lost his appetite and was as horrified at the lack of manners as the guards that were posted in the room. Vivi much to her father's surprise was encouraging the pirate's behaviour and even laughed at it.

The gestured for one of the guards to come over and one did.

"Please ask the kitchens to put some aside for me later. I appear to have lost my appetite," the King whispered. The guard nodded in understating and left to fulfil the Kings request.

Once everyone was full and the kitchen had run out of plates to serve on, Vivi suggested that the Straw Hats use the Palace baths. While most of the Straw Hats were thrilled with the idea, Ace decided to pass as due to his fruit abilities and Connor declined preferring to bathe alone rather than with the others.

"I'm going to take a walk through the Palace Gardens," Connor said when the others headed off to the baths. Chaka showed him the way.

The gardens were quite large and very peaceful, Connor was amazed at the amount of plants that were in bloom and flowering despite the drought, the recent rain had given these plants a much needed drink.

Connor slowly walked through the gardens aware of the guards that were following him at a distance; he stopped at a pond with some fish in it. He watched them for a bit and noticed that one fish was having trouble deciding between two groups a smaller group and a larger group of fish.

"I feel your pain…which will you choose?" Connor said to himself as he watched the fish swim back and forth between the two groups.

Finally it stayed with the smaller group of fish.

Connor stood back up and continued his walk, after about an hour he decided to head back to the Straw Hats room. As he approached he heard Luffy and the others talking to Vivi about her joining the crew permeantliy. Vivi sounded unsure on what to do, Connor was about to open the door but stopped when he heard his name.

"What about Connor, has he decided yet?" Vivi voice was heard through the door.

Connor quietly placed his ear against the door so he could hear the conversation.

"Decided? Decided what?" Luffy asked.

"You wouldn't know…Vivi's father wants to adopt Connor," Usopp said.

"WHAT!" Luffy yelled in surprise.

"He hasn't given his answer yet," Vivi informed.

"B…B…But he's my Nakama, he can't leave," Luffy claimed.

"Luffy Connor was with us because he had no choice; don't you think he'd be better off here?" Nami reasoned.

"I…I suppose but…I don't want him to leave," Luffy said sadly.

"None of us do but…we said it was his choice and if we go back on that how are we different from his previous masters," Zoro claimed.

"I still don't want him to go…but I won't force him to stay ether," Luffy said.

Connor was unsure what to do; his mind was racing with the two different choices ahead of him. A life of piracy or a life as a prince…the latter was very tempting as no one would tell him what to do anymore.

Connor took a deep breath and pushed the door open. He had decided.

The others looked at him as he came into the room.

"Hey Connor we were just talking about you," Luffy said with a smile.

"Really, what about?" Connor asked.

"I was just telling Luffy about my father's offer," Vivi informed.

"Oh…um…about that," Connor started.

"Have your decision kid?" Zoro asked.

"Yes…in fact I think I made a while ago; I just had to be sure it was the right one," Connor said and walked up to Luffy. Luffy stared at the boy waiting for his answer.

"So do you want to stay here?" Nami asked.

"Is…is it okay if I stay with you?" Connor asked.

Luffy blinked and a large grin formed on his face.

"Of course it's okay!" Luffy cheered.

"Kid…are you sure?" Zoro asked in surprise.

Connor looked at Zoro.

"Yeah I wouldn't make a good prince, I'd get bored way too quickly," Connor joked.

"Ahh man and here I thought we'd finlay get rid of you," Zoro smiled, he was glad Connor was staying.

"Well I'll be sure to tell my farther," Vivi smiled.

"So does this mean your also accepting Luffy's offer?" Usopp asked.

"Yes…I am. If it's not too late," Connor said.

"It's never too late," Luffy claimed.

"Alright now that that's sorted, I think we should leave," Nami said seriously.

"What…Already?" Vivi asked.

"Well Luffy's recovered and Connor has made his choice. Plus the Marines are getting bolder; a few were caught trying to sneak into the palace today," Nami claimed "If they find our ship we will be in trouble,"

Suddenly the door burst open and a guard walked in with a Snail phone and handed it to Luffy.

"Excuse me but you have a call," He said before leaving.

"A…call…from who?" Sanji asked.

Luffy picked up the receiver.

"Hello," he said.

"Ah…Hello it's me!" an obnoxious voice on the other end said.

"Hi Me, I'm Luffy," Luffy said happily.

"Idiot," Nami sighed.

"No I mean it's me…Mr 2," the voice said.

All the Straw Hats instantly froze, why would a former Baroque works agent be calling them?

"What do you want?" Luffy asked seriously.

"Well…first off I have your ship," Mr 2 answered.

"WHAT!" the crew yelled.

"I had to take it; the Marines have been searching the coast line for the last two days. You should be thanking me for saving it from them," Mr 2 explained.

"Oh okay thanks," Luffy said.

"DON'T THANK HIM YOU IDIOT!" Nami, Sanji and Usopp shouted.

"So you have our ship, where are you?" Zoro asked.

"I can't tell you that, but I can tell you where I'll be. I'll meet you at the end of the Shandora River west of Alubana in a few hours," Mr 2 said "You can pick your ship up from there,"

"Vivi how long will it take to get there?" Nami asked.

"If you take the Super Duck Billed Squad, four hours," Vivi answered.

Nami took the receiver from Luffy.

"Alright will be there in about four hours, you had better be there," Nami demanded.

"I will see you soon," Mr 2 promised and hung up.

"Right let's go," Nami ordered and the crew started getting their things together.

"Vivi if you want to join us we'll sail past the eastern coast once at noon tomorrow. That will be your last chance," Nami claimed.

"We're pirates so this is the best we can offer…But I really hope to sail with you Vivi-Chan," Sanji said with hearts in his eyes.

"Get moving you pervert," Zoro ordered.

Vivi had some protective hooded cloaks brought in for the Straw Hats and let them use the Super Duck Billed Squad and just like that the Straw Hats were gone.

* * *

When the crew arrived at the Merry Mr 2 was waiting for them, Ace glared at the man and demanded to know why he was helping them. Mr 2 claimed that he had become Sanji's friend and in turn Luffy's…much to Sanji's annoyance.

The straw hats boarded their ship and found nothing missing and no sign of sabotage so they decided to leave.

"I wouldn't do that, Straw hat," Mr 2 warned.

"Why?" Luffy asked.

"Because the Marine fleet is patrolling the coast looking for you. Their ships can't make it up river so that's why I brought your ship here," Mr 2 claimed.

"WHAT?!" the crew yelled.

"So you want Luffy's help to escape then," Ace assumed,

"That's right," Mr 2 said, suddenly his ship appeared and his crew confirmed it.

"You're a real piece of work you know that right?" Ace claimed.

"But even with two ships how are we going to get past the fleet?" Usopp asked.

"I'll sail out first, my bounty is much higher than yours and while the Marines are chasing me you get away," Ace said.

"But Ace…That would put you at risk," Luffy pointed out.

"Please I can handle the Marines, or did you forget who you're talking too," Ace said confidently.

"But I want you to travel with me," Luffy whined.

"Sorry Lu but I have my own thing I need to do. I should have left in Yuba but…with the Brotherhood hanging around and Crocodile…Well I just needed to make sure you didn't get yourself killed," Ace smiled.

"Awww….You do Care!" Luffy shouted and launched himself at Ace, tackling him to the ground.

"GET OFF ME YOU MORON!" Ace shouted and struggled against his brother.

* * *

The next morning the Marines were patrolling the coast, looking for any sign of the Straw Hats ship. They were led by Hina the black cage.

Hina was a tall, slim woman with straight, waist-length pink hair and wears red lipstick. She wore a burgundy-purple two-piece suit over a white blouse, as well as dark brown shoes and a pair of dark gloves.

Hina knew that no ships had left Alabasta in the wake of the Civil war, though the King had warned the Marines that he intended to send out for some much needed relief supplies; but those ships weren't set to leave until the next day. That meant the Straw Hats were still somewhere in the country.

"Where are they?" Hina asked herself.

"Captain! Look!" A marine pointed out.

"Hina looked at where the Marine was pointing to see a small boat with a single occupant come out of the mouth of the Sandora River. The boat stopped not too far away from the fleet.

"Is that…Fire Fist Ace?" Hina gasped.

"What's the commander of Whitebeard's second fleet doing out here?" the marine asked.

Hina stared at Ace as he gave her a wave and stuck his tongue out before his boat turned away and sailed off with his flames powering it.

"Don't just stand there, AFTER HIM!" Hina ordered.

The Marine ships moved and began to chase Ace; they sailed past the mouth of the River and completely missed the two pirate ships that were hiding just out of sight.

* * *

 _Going Merry_

Nami looked at a pocket watch and waited, the plan had been to wait at least five minutes for Ace to draw the Marines away while Ace led them West the other two ships would head East in the opposite direction.

"3…2…1…NOW!" Nami ordered.

The sails were opened and the two ships sailed out into the sea, Usopp could see the Marine ships chasing Ace, the plan had worked. The two Pirate crews got a fair distance before the Marines noticed them and turned around.

Ace immediately went on the offensive and took out over half their fleet but it was clear that the Marines were more interested in Luffys ship than Ace's. By this time Ace's small boat was too far away to help Luffy so he took off while he could.

The Marines shot there long rage Mortars at the two ships but the Merry was just out of range.

"Quick if we head south we can get away in the open sea," Mr 2 claimed.

"If you want to go you can but we're heading to the East," Luffy said.

"WHAT? If you go that way you'll meet up with the reinforcements," Mr 2 argued.

"But we promised we'd be there at noon," Luffy said.

"What could possibly be at the East coast that would be worth risking your lives for?" Mr 2 demanded.

"We're going to see our friend," Luffy said simply.

That moved Mr 2 to tears and he agreed to act as a decoy for the Marines while the Straw Hats went to the East coast.

They managed to stay out of the Marines weapon range and at noon there was no sign of Vivi. Mr 2 had distracted the Marines long enough but in the end he and his crew had fallen and been captured, now the Marines were turning there attention to the Merry.

Luffy was insisted that she would come but with the Marines chasing them they could not afford to wait.

They were about to set off when Vivi's voice was heard from the shore, the Straw Hats ran to the back of the deck and saw her standing there with Carue.

"VIVI CAME!" Luffy cheered happily.

"We can't turn around, Luffy pull her on board," Zoro said.

"Okay, leave it to me," Luffy said and got ready to stretch his arm.

"Everyone I'm sorry but…I can't go with you," Vivi voice was heard; she was speaking through a Den-Den mushi.

This caused the Straw hats face's to fall.

"I want to keep sailing with you but…I just Love my country too much. Even though I won't be with you the next time we meet will you…will you still consider me your Nakama?" Vivi asked tearfully.

"OF COU…." Luffy started but Nami quickly covered his mouth to stop him from talking.

"Shut up, if the marines find out that Vivi is affiliated with us it will have disastrous consequences for her country," Nami warned.

On the shore Vivi was waiting for a response but she didn't get one, she began to cry as she thought her friends no longer wanted her. Her tears turned from sadness to joy as she saw the Straw hats lined up on the back of the deck with their left arms raised showing their promise mark.

Vivi cried happly and she and Craue raised their left arms as well, she watched as the small ship that had brought her so much hop and happiness salied off into the distance.


	25. Rainbow Mist Pt 1

_**A.n I own nothing**_

 _ **Okay Couple of Announcements, First off I would like to dedicate this Chapter to the victims of the September 11 attack in 2001. Today is the Fifth year anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Centre and deserves acknowledgement.**_

 _ **Second Happy 50th birthday to Star Trek. Star Trek first aired on September 8th 1966, while the original series was corny and not that popular when it first aired. Star Trek spawned 726 episodes, 30 seasons of TV series, 13 movies and a cult. This is one series that sci-fi fans hope will Live Long and Prosper.**_

 _ **Lastly I have decided to skip the Zenni filler arc, I personally did not like it and compared to the Rainbow Mist arc that came after it and the other filler arcs in the series it was just bad. It lacked the overall energy that One Piece as a series as a whole gives off.**_

 _ **This is just my personal opinion on one part of the series and is in no way meant as an insult for Oda and the writers of the One Piece anime. But the Zenni arc will not be in featured in this fic.**_

* * *

The Merry sailed further and further from Alabasta, the crew had managed to avoid and lose their Marine pursuers and now only the calm open sea awaited them. Most of the crew here moping on the deck looking really depressed.

"Whew…looks like we lost them," Zoro said looking back in the direction they had come from. He could no longer see Alabasta, the dessert Country was long out of sight.

Zoro looked over to where Connor was now only just starting to calm down from the recent cannon fire and sea battle that had caused him to panic.

"So where to ne…what the hell is wrong with you lot?" Zoro asked when he noticed the rest of the crew.

The Crew looked at Zoro with tears in their eyes.

"WE MISS HER!" they cried together.

"QUITE WHINNING!" Zoro yelled back "If you wanted Vivi to come that badly, you should have just taken her by force,"

The crew looked at him disappointingly.

"That's horrible…you Neanderthal," Chopper said.

"You're Heartless," Nami said.

"Jerk," Sanji said.

"Santouryuu(1)," Luffy said.

"Luffy that's not an insult," Usopp claimed.

"Yontouryu(2)," Luffy tried again.

"You just added one extra sword, it's still not an insult," Usopp said.

Zoro sighed and started to head to the back of the ship, he knew Luffy and Usopp would be at it for a while.

'I am not paid enough to deal with them,' He thought 'Come to think of it I'm not paid at all,'

"Oh have we escaped from the Marines?" a female voice asked.

"Yeah we're in the cle…" Zoro started but stopped, he did not recognise the voice. He quickly turned to see an unknown woman standing there; he drew his sword.

"AHHHHH! IT'S HER!" Luffy screamed.

The rest of the crew quickly surrounded the woman and drew their weapons and surrounded the intruder. Chopper was hiding behind Sanji who had harts in his eyes, Connor tried to back away and started to panic again.

"Who are you?" Zoro demanded.

"It doesn't matter who she is…she's beautiful," Sanji claimed.

"Don't point those things at me," the woman ordered and all of the straw hats weapons fell out of their hands.

"Oi what do you want? Why are you on me ship?" Luffy demanded.

"My my don't you remember what you did to me? Monkey. D Luffy," the woman accused.

Luffy blinked innocently and Sanji jump on him.

"Oi what did you do you basted, tell me right now or I'll throw you into the sea!" Sanji threated.

"She's lying I did nothing to her," Luffy claimed.

"Oh yes you did. You put me through some very excruciating treatment, so you need to take responsibility," the mystery woman claimed.

This only made Sanji angrier.

"Excruciating treatment…don't tell me…LUFFY HOW COULD YOU DEFILE A DELICATE FLOWER LIKE THAT!" Sanji yelled and tried to throw Luffy off the ship.

"SANJI PUT ME DOWN!" Luffy screamed.

"OH I'LL PUT YOU DOWN ALL RIGHT…DOWN IN THE SEA!" Sanji said as he threw Luffy over board. Fortunately Luffy was able to grab the railing and he pulled himself back onto the ship.

"Sanji I have no Idea what she's talking about. She's Crocodiles partner," Luffy claimed.

The entire crew froze, now they recognised her. While the crew had been trapped in Crocodiles casino, they had been so busy focusing on Crocodile and Vivi at the time that none of them had been paying much attention to her.

"Ex-partner now, you need to take responsibility for your actions," Miss All-Sunday claimed.

"You lot were the one attacking Vivi's country, why should I take responsibility for that?" Luffy asked.

"I'm not talking about that; I'm talking about what you did to me personally; you and the Mentor,"

"Mentor?"

"The man in the white hooded robe who fought Crocodile with you,"

"Oh you mean Alty…what about him?"

"After you two defeated Crocodile I wanted to die, I would have been happy to be buried in that tomb. But you and him forced me to live, I couldn't go with him so responsibility now falls to you," Miss All-Sunday explained.

"Oh…what did you want me to do?" Luffy asked now understanding what the former Baroque Works officer meant.

"Nothing much, let me join your crew," Miss All-Sunday requested.

"WHAT?!" "YES!" the rest of the crew and Sanji screamed at the same time.

"I have nowhere to go or anywhere to return too, so let me join you," Miss All-Sunday said.

Luffy looked at here for a second and then came to a decision.

"Okay you can join but I need to know your Name," Luffy said.

"It's Nico Robin," Robin introduced.

"Great welcome to the crew," Luffy said happily.

"NNNOOOO!" the others cried.

"YESSSS!" Sanji cried happily.

"Don't worry she's not a bad person," Luffy claimed with a big smile.

* * *

That night Zoro didn't go to sleep, he did not trust Robin at all. He thought back to the day, Usopp had done an interview with the former Barque works agent and Robin had reviled that she had been working for various different underworld bosses and pirates since she was eight.

Zoro had to admit that no child would be able to survive on the Grand Line or any other Sea by themselves…hell even Connor had his former Masters looking after him. While Zoro could not argue that Robin's skills and abilities not to mention her knowledge of the Grand Line would be highly beneficial to the crew, Zoro could not trust her.

At first Nami and Usopp had been in his side as Robin had won both Luffy and Chopper over by distracting them with her powers, Sanji was a lost cause as Robin was a woman and then Nami had gone over to her side when Robin had produced some Jewels. Usopp had been against her joining as well but quickly found entertainment in her powers and joined Luffy and Chopper.

Once Connor had fully calmed down Connor had avoided Robin as much as he could, but had no objection to her joining. Zoro suspected it was because now Robin had joined she could control the boy. Zoro was against her joining but Luffy had made his mind up and Zoro knew that there was no changing it.

Zoro lay in his bunk trying to determine what to do with Robin but he knew that Luffy would not kick her off and once the Rubber captain had made up his mind then there was no changing it. Zoro herd moaning and looked over to Connors hammock, the boy was having a nightmare again.

A minute later Connor shot up in bed sweating and panicking; he got up and left the men's quarters. Zoro sighed and followed him onto the deck to keep him compony.

* * *

Over the next few days Zoro kept his eye on Robin, she never did much just sat there and read, it was a different book each day. When Luffy wanted her to play she would use her powers and entertain them but other than that she did not interact with the crew much at all.

Connor kept looking at her with curious eyes but would look away every time someone or Robin noticed him. Zoro made sure Connor was with someone at all times, if he was training the boy was with Luffy.

On the fifth day the Merry landed on a tropical Island, it was a small deserted Island with a jungle. Luffy was exited to explore and could barely contain his excitement. Sanji spied some fruit in the trees and decided to stockpile them.

"Alright everyone draw a stick the one with the longest stays on the ship," Nami said and held out five sticks.

"Hold on why are you giving orders?" Zoro asked irritably.

"Your right the Captain should be giving orders but do you really think he's smart enough?" Nami asked and pointed at Luffy who had drawn three sticks.

"Why did you draw three?" Usopp asked.

"The one with the most wins right?" Luffy responded.

Zoro sighed Nami was right and he grabbed one of the sticks out of Luffy's hand, Usopp did the same.

"Hey why are you taking my sticks?" Luffy whined.

"Connor, Chopper your turn," Nami said and bent down to the smaller members, they each took a stick.

It turned out that Chopper had gotten the longest stick and he stayed behind to guard the ship. Nami went to survey the Island and Sanji went with her happily, Luffy Usopp, Connor and Zoro were given large baskets to fill with fruit.

Luffy ran off into the jungle with Usopp and Zoro went with Connor. Before they headed off Zoro took one last long look at the ship.

Zoro and Connor wandered through the jungle looking for fruit. Connor was looking at the tall trees, he really wanted to climb them.

"So…what do you think of Robin?" Zoro asked suddenly.

Connor looked at Zoro.

"She seems nice, hasn't said much lately though," Connor answered.

"I noticed you've been looking at her a lot recently, why?"

"I'm…just curious about her," Connor said.

"Have you used your sight on her?"

"Yes, she's white,"

"Just white…what's that mean?"

"I don't know," Connor shrugged.

They continued walking and eventually found a group of fruit trees close together, Zoro used his swords to cut the fruit down, it worked but they were quickly buried.

Once they were un-buried and their baskets full they continued to walk through the Jungle.

"Hey Zoro…what's an Archaeologist?" Connor asked.

"It's someone who studies ancient ruins and civilizations," Zoro answered.

"So that means Robin could read really old languages, right?" Connor asked excitedly

"I guess…why?"

"I was just wondering…that's all," Connor said the excitement in his voice had disappeared.

Zoro felt that there was a something more to Connors question but dropped the subject, they continued on until Connor spoke up again.

"Zoro…you do know we're going in circles right?" Connor asked.

Zoro froze and slowly turned around with embarrassment written all over his face.

* * *

That night after dinner was over a campfire and Nami scolded Luffy and Usopp for not bringing any fruit back. Usopp was telling one of his famous stories about how we died getting the fruit only to have it stolen by a rainbow coloured Condor.

Connor laughed at it as Nami beat both Luffy and Usopp up for not bringing anything back. Once Nami was done Connor looked over his shoulder to see Robin was sitting away from the group, she had a candle set up on a small table and was using it as a light source for her book.

Connor stared at her for a minute but Robin looked at him meeting his stare so Connor quickly turned his attention back to the others.

The next few days at sea were relatively uneventful; Luffy did fish up a traveling salesman who tried to swindle his goods to the crew for outrageous prices. But once he heard Luffy's name he panicked and jumped ship leaving his merchandise behind.

Luffy, Usopp and Chopper had fun playing with it and Nami managed to score some very high quality paper for drawing maps on.

The weather turned from good to bad and it started raining so all of the straw hats moved into the kitchen. The rain didn't stop until the next day which was worse because of the heavy fog.

Connor finally worked up the courage to talk to Robin. He wanted to ask her something but was afraid to do it.

"Hi," Connor said shyly.

Robin stopped reading and looked over at the boy.

"Hello can I help you with something?" Robin asked, smiling sweetly.

"I was…just…wondering if…" Connor started nervously.

Robin waited patiently and Connor got more nervous.

"Y…Y…You know what…Never mind," Connor said quickly.

"Are you sure?" Robin asked suspiciously.

"Yep….so um….what are you reading?" Connor asked changing the subject.

"A book series called the Rainbow Mist. It's about a group of kids who discover a rainbow coloured mist filled with adventures and treasure," Robin answered.

"Really sound interesting," Connor said excitedly.

"It is, would you like to borrow the first book?" Robin asked.

"Ah…no…I mean… your reading it so…" Connor said getting nervous again.

"I'm on the fifth book already," Robin assured she got up and left the kitchen when she came back she had the book in hand.

"Here, it's been a dull few days. You can give it back to me later," Robin said and held out the book.

Connor hesitantly took it.

"T…T…Thank you," Connor said softly.

* * *

The next day Connor waited until Robin was alone and he returned the book to her.

"Oh finished it already have you?" Robin asked.

Connor looked away in shame, he had tried to read the book but he couldn't.

"Actually…I never started…I can't read," Connor said shamefully.

"Really?" Robin asked.

Connor shock his head.

"Well…I'll have to fix that," Robin said.

Connor stared at her in fear.

"N…N…No that's okay I don't need to learn," Connor said quickly.

"Nonsense, reading is an essential life skill. I suppose if you can't read you can't write either, correct?"

"Yes,"

"All right then next Island I will get some early learning books…but for now I'll just write up the Alphabet and we can start there," Robin said.

She closed her book and got up, she was plaining to see if she could borrow a sheet of Nami's paper; but Connor stopped her.

"Robin I…I can't I'm not supposed to learn that stuff…if anyone found out…" Connor said fearfully, he had seen what had happened to other slaves who had been caught trying to read…they lost their eyes.

Robin picked up on Connors fear and smiled; she bent down and looked him in the eyes.

"Well then it will be our little secret," Robin said.

Connor didn't know how to react, yes he wished he could read and there have been many times that such a skill would have come in handy. But he still feared what would happen if anyone found out, after all slaves weren't supposed to be educated in anything other than manual work.

"Y…Y…You promise?" Connor asked.

"Yes, no one will know," Robin promised.

"O...Okay," Connor agreed "But how will we find a place where we're not disturbed or won't get caught?"

"Leave that to me," Robin smiled.

About ten minutes later Connor was sitting in the cabin with Robin, he had a large sheet of paper in front of him with the Alphabet neatly written on it. Robin was explaining the alphabet and going through the letters, it would have been easier with a picture book but this would do for now.

Connor was very nervous and kept looking towards the door, expecting someone to come in and catch them. He and Robin weren't at it for long because suddenly the sound of cannon fire was herd and the ship rocket violently.

Connor started shaking with his eyes closed and hands over his ears trying to block out the noise, Robin having never seen this happen before tried to comfort the scared boy.

"Connor? It'll be alright," she tried and placed her hand on the boys shoulder.

Unfortunately this had the opposite affect Robin was hoping for and seemed to make Connor panic even more. Robin recognising that she was not helping got up and ran onto the deck to tell the others.

As soon as she came on deck she saw the other Straw Hats running around desperately trying to protect the ship while Sanji steered it. One Marnie ship was getting close and the Luffy and Zoro got ready to fend off borders but then it exploded.

"HUH?!" Zoro asked.

"What just happened?!" Luffy asked.

"That shot came from the main ship," Usopp answered.

"The Marines are firing…on themselves," Chopper said confused.

"We can use this…Sanji quick turn the ship, we'll get away while the other ships are rescuing the survivors," Nami ordered.

Sanji was happy to obey and the Merry sailed off escaping the Marines, once they were out of range Zoro noticed that Connor was not on deck.

"Hey has anyone seen the kid?" Zoro asked.

"He was in the cabin with me when the…" Robin didn't get to finish her sentence because Zoro rushed past her towards the cabin and burst in.

He saw Connor in his panicked state and let out a sigh of relief that he was unharmed. Zoro went back on deck shutting the door, he glared at Robin.

"What did you do to him?" Zoro accused.

"Nothing he just started shaking when the attack started," Robin claimed calmly.

"I'm not talking about that, what were you doing before that?" Zoro demanded.

"I was…" Robin started.

"She was teaching him how to read," Nami interrupted.

The crew looked at her in shock.

"Robin came to me asking if she could have some paper to write the Alphabet down on, I gave her some," Nami claimed.

"Hold on I thought you were going to do that," Usopp said.

"I'm way to busy; I not only have to keep you idiots in line but also navigate us through the most dangerous sea in the world. I want to teach Connor but I just don't have the time," Nami said.

"Connor did not want anyone to know, he was afraid on how you would react," Robin said.

"Of course he would be," Zoro sighed.

"Hey Robin could you teach him to read?" Luffy asked.

"Oh yes, I could teach him much more than that," Robin answered.

"Like what?"

"Well history is my specialty but I could teach him a variety of different languages and even how to read some ancient ones," Robin claimed.

"What about basic Maths?" Luffy asked.

The rest of the Straw hats jaws dropped.

'Luffy knows what Maths is?' they all thought.

"To some extent I would not be able to help him if he chose to pursue it as a career," Robin claimed "Though I am confused why he would be afraid of learning or why he cannot read or write yet,"

"Well…It's complicated…" Usopp said sheepishly.

Robin listened carefully as the others told her about Connors brand, she kept a calm demener throughout the entire explanation and when the straw hats were done she had a very serious look on her face.

"I see, that would explain it," Robin said, she was sickened by the idea of Connors brand.

"I'll need time alone with him every day…a few hours a day should be enough," Robin said.

"For what?" Zoro asked suspiciously.

"For his lesson of course, he has a lot to catch up on. I'll start with reading and writing first and then we'll see how it goes from there," Robin claimed "I'll also need a few things but I'm sure I can get those on the next Island,"

"You're going to teach him?"

"Yes I am, but it might be best if you all pretend that you don't know what we're doing," Robin suggested.

"Okay I can keep a secret," Luffy smiled.

The others gave him very doubtful looks.

* * *

A couple of hours later the Merry came upon an Island, Connor and Chopper were looking out over the bow of the ship at the approaching Island. As the Merry sailed inland Nami noticed a lot of rock spires coming out of the ocean.

Soon the Straw Hats noticed a large harbour looking town, the most notable feature was a massively tall looking tower.

"What's that?" Connor asked.

"A light house maybe, there are a lot of rocks and cliffs nearby," Chopper suggested.

"I don't think so," Nami said coming over and the two looked at her.

"It's too tall, there's a massive tarp over the top and it looks like there still building it," Nami pointed out.

"So…what are they building?" Connor wondered.

Nami decided to anchor the ship in a cove nearby, the cove was behind a large rocky cliff so the Merry was well out of sight. Everyone but Zoro disembarked and headed for town.

Luffy ran off looking for a restaurant, Nami sighed and she and Sanji ran after him. Robin, Connor, Usopp and Chopper walked slowly along the path from the cove into town, along the way they stopped to look at rock pools.

Connor Chopper and Usopp were busy looking at some small shell fish while Usopp was telling a story how they were actually giant flesh eating monsters in disguise; Robin was off to the side watching them with a smile.

"Hey you," a raspy voice asked.

Robin turned to see an old man with an odd contraption standing above them. Usopp, Connor and Chopper looked over as well.

The man had an old droopy appearance his face was wrinkled, he had a grey bowl cut and a large moustache that covered his mouth. He wore a lavender button down shirt with a red collar and lots of pink shapes decorating it and a long white lab coat over the top.

"Can we help you?" Robin asked calmly.

"Yes I saw your ship come in and I was wondering if I could ask you a question," the old man requested.

Robin blinked in confusion; she had no idea if she could hello this man as they had only just arrived. The old man took her silence as a sign to proceed.

"As you came in, did you see the Rainbow Mist?" the old man asked.

* * *

(1) Santouryuu means Three Swords in Japanese

(2) Yontouryu means Four swords in Japanese, Luffy is not actually insulting Zoro.


	26. Rainbow Mist Pt 2

_**A.n I own nothing.**_

 _ **I apologise for the late update, I recently got a new job and it's taking up most of my time as between mid September to mid October is my works busiest time of the year. Hopefully it will start to calm down soon until then updates will be a bit slow.**_

 _ **Again I aoplogise and thank you for your patience.**_

* * *

Robin, Usopp, Connor and Luffy were sitting at a table in a restaurant. After the strange old man had asked them about the Rainbow Mist, Robin agreed to talk to him, they had wandered through town and Sanji had roped Chopper into helping him into carrying stuff for Nami.

Robin Usopp and Connor had noticed Luffy in a restaurant and had decided to talk to the old man with the rubber captain over a meal. The restaurant was had a nice view of the ocean and it was fairly busy as most tables were full. Luffy had ordered several plates of pasta for the table, when the cook brought it over he glared at the old man.

"You had better have money on you," the cook said harshly.

"Don't worry, he's paying," the old man claimed and pointed at Usopp.

"I NEVER AGREED TO THAT!" Usopp yelled.

"I'm going to tell you a secret, it's the least you can do," the old man pointed out.

The cook nodded and put the food on the table before returning to the kitchen.

"A secret, really?" Luffy asked excitedly.

"Yes the secret of the Rainbow Mist," the old man said.

"What's that?" Luffy asked and shoved some food in his mouth.

"First off my name is Henzo, I'm a professor studying the Rainbow Mist," Henzo introduced.

"Robin isn't the Rainbow Mist the name of the books your reading?" Connor asked, remembering what Robin had told him about the book she had lent him.

"Books…what Books?" Henzo asked.

"I'm reading a series of books called the Rainbow Mist," Robin answered "It's about a group of children who find a hidden land filled with treasure and adventure. Apparently the Rainbow Mist leads to Neverland, a place where children never grow up or starve,"

"Well that's a load of garbage," Henzo said disappointingly "There is no land of adventure beyond the mist,"

"How do you know?" Luffy asked; the thought of a hidden land exited him.

"Because the mist itself swallows people up, if you get caught in it you're never seen again," Henzo claimed.

"So there's no land of treasure or eternal youth," Connor frowned.

"Stuff like that does not exist, you're better off believing in something more realistic,"

"But your searching for the mist," Usopp pointed out.

"Yes the mist exists but the land of adventure and treasure dose not," Hezo said firmly.

Before the Straw Hats could ask any more questions the sound of drums was herd, suddenly the other guests quickly began shoving their food and drink into their mouths. Usopp and Luffy watched in confusion, Robin and Connor were too busy focusing on the drum.

Suddenly the door to the restaurant was opened and an older man wearing a purple uniform with white fur shoulder pads walked in. He had red hair and a moustache and thick black eyebrows.

"Greetings citizens, I hope your enjoying your meal," the man in the front said.

He walked into the restaurant and all of the other customers froze, the Straw Hats looked at him in confusion as the atmosphere had gone from calm and relaxed to tense and fear.

"I see you've got an extra-large beer there," the man in front said as he eyed a customer with some drink left in his mug "If you want to drink that you must pay the drinking tax,"

Two soldiers came up behind the man and started searching him.

"Who's that?" Usopp asked.

"That's Flip, the mayor's son. He's in charge of the Tax collection party," Hezo claimed.

The soldiers pulled out his wallet, they brought it over to Flip; Philip searched it and found no money in the wallet. He turned to the man enraged.

"Is this some kind of joke?" Flip demanded.

"I…I can't pay. You've taken everything," the man claimed.

"Those who can't pay must work at the tower," Flip claimed, he made a gesture and the two soldiers grabbed the man by his arms and started to drag him away.

"No please don't…I have a wife and three children," the man begged.

"Then we will have to collect the Children's tax from her," Flip said cold heartedly "Take him to the tower,"

The soldiers dragged the man screaming out of the restaurant and none made any move to stop them. Flip eyed the rest of the restaurant and noticed Henzo; he walked up to him.

"Ah Professor, how's your research going? The mayor would like an update," Flip said in a somewhat friendly way.

"Same as normal, it's hard because there is no way to tell when the Rainbow Mist will appear," Henzo answered.

"That's a shame, your research is being funded by the peoples tax's and that Rainbow tower it being built as a result of your research. The longer it takes the more suffering you'll cause these people," Flip claimed.

Henzo glared at the man bit did not respond.

Flips eyes looked over the other people Henzo was with and noticed Luffy eating a large serve of pasta and Connor.

"You there, that is a large serve you're eating," Flip commented.

"Yeah I'm pretty hungry," Luffy claimed.

"I see tell me is that boy with you?"

"Yeah he is,"

"Then you must pay not only the child tax but also the large serving tax as well," Flip demand.

"It's on him today," Luffy claimed and pointed at Usopp.

"STOP SAYING THAT!" Usopp yelled.

Two soldiers came up to Usopp and he looked at them nervously.

"Oh you mean you can't pay either?" Flip asked with an evil smile.

Usopp sighed, he had no desire to wind up like that other man who was dragged away; he pulled out his money pouched and handed it to Flip. Philip took it and emptied the pouch before giving it back to Usopp; he and his men than left the restaurant.

"Great, now I'm broke," Usopp said depressed.

"Don't worry about," Luffy smiled.

"Easy for you to say," Usopp huffed.

"Robin…what's a Tax?" Connor asked.

"It's what you have to pay for what you own, it's normally not that much," Robin answered.

Luffy and his group finished their meal quickly and left the restaurant as they left the cook who served them came after them.

"Hey word of advice…stay away from Henzo," the cook warned.

"Why?" Luffy asked innocently.

"Because it's his fault we're being taxed, he makes a living out of our suffering," the cook said angrily "If you don't want to be shunned by the people here, you'll stay away from him,"

Luffy looked over at Henzo, the older man was fiddling with the strange contemplation that he carried around; he appeared completely oblivious to the conversation.

"Okay thanks for the warning," Luffy smiled at the Cook.

The cook smiled back thinking he had got through to Luffy, however the rubber captain did something nether the cook or Henzo expected. Luffy walked up to Henzo.

"Hey can I help you find the Rainbow Mist?" Luffy asked.

Henzo and the cook stared at him in shock.

"You believe me…why?" Henzo asked.

"A strange mist that leads to treasure and adventure…who could say no to that?" Luffy asked excitedly.

Usopp and Connor sighed; Luffy was going to get them into trouble again.

"But there is no land of treasure or anything like that, it's just a story," Henzo insisted.

"No it's real," Luffy said "If it wasn't then why would there be books about it?"

"Luffy has a point, even if it is just a legend, most legends have some truths to them," Robin agreed.

"So what do we do to find the mist?" Luffy asked.

"Well…normally I just walk around town, if the mist appears my invention should activate," Henzo said.

"Okay let's go," Luffy declared and walked off in a random direction.

The others followed him and the cook went back into the restraint. As they walked around town Henzo and Robin were having an interesting conversation about theories on the Rainbow Mist, Connor wasn't paying much attention to them. He was more interested in Usopp ting to convince Luffy that Henzo was a bad guy.

"Luffy we can't help this guy, he's a bad person," Usopp claimed.

"But Usopp I want to see the Magic Mist," Luffy whined.

"Luffy those soldiers took our money,"

"You'll get it back, once we find the mist of course,"

"But there is no treasure,"

"You don't know that, Robins books say there is so there must be,"

"So know your trusting Robin as well? Need I remind you she tried to kill us?"

"Technically that was Crocodile, I never actually tried to kill you," Robin interrupted.

"See, there's nothing two worry about," Luffy said with a smile.

Suddenly a loud explosion was herd coming from near the port, the group stopped and looked in the direction of the explosion, and they saw grey smoke rising into the air.

"What was that?" Connor asked.

"Probably some idiot causing trouble or showing off," Usopp guessed and they continued walking.

Henzo and the Straw Hats kept walking while Usopp was complaining about the massive amount the tax cost, Henzo was feeling guilty because he had caused these people grief but despite all that they still believed him about the Mist.

"I'm sorry," Henzo said.

"Why are you apologising old man?" Luffy asked.

"Luffy he's part of those soldiers," Usopp said.

"Really?"

"Yes, he's part of those thieving officials. Weren't you listing to them in the restaurant?"

"No, I was too busy eating,"

Usopp groaned.

"Okay let me put it in a way you'll understand. It's his fault that those outrageous taxes exist," Usopp said annoyed "Did you get that?"

"Not really," Luffy answered.

"Luffy Henzo is a bad guy," Usopp claimed.

"No he's not, he showed us a good place to eat," Luffy argued innocently.

Robin, Connor and Henzo watched Luffy and Usopp argue back and forth on whether or not Henzo could be trusted.

"Dose he always do this?" Henzo asked Robin.

"I'm not sure, I don't really know Luffy that well yet…Connor might know though," Robin answered.

Henzo looked at the boy and repeated his question.

"Oh yeah, all the time Luffy just dose what he wants. If something interests him he'll ignore everyone else until he finds it and sees it with his own eyes," Connor claimed.

"Even if it's a myth and there's no proof?" Henzo asked.

"Especially if it's a myth, he's chasing after One Piece after all. So going after some mist that may or may not exist is not unusual," Connor pointed out.

"One Piece? But that's never been found…" Henzo said in shock.

"I know, but that's just the type of person he is," Connor finished.

Suddenly a man came running up to the group, he was out of breath from running.

"Henzo there you are…you've got to come to the harbour," the man demanded.

"Why? What's going on at the harbour?" Henzo asked.

"A ship just came in…it appeared out of nowhere…It's a Galleon," the man claimed.

"A…A…A Galleon?" Henzo gasped in surprise.

"Yes, common," the man said and took off running, Henzo followed him.

"A Galleon…those haven't been made in years," Robin stated.

"Sounds like fun, let's go take a look," Luffy said and headed towards the harbour.

When they reached the harbour a larger crowd was already there Luffy, had to push his way through to the front of the crowd and his crew followed him. Once he was at the front he saw the Galleon.

"WOW IT'S HUGE!" Luffy shouted in excitement and amazement.

The Galleon was indeed huge; in fact it was so large it did not fit into the harbour. There were small pilot boats around it trying to anchor it just outside the harbour. The Galleon was painted a crimson red colour, it had a bull figure head, for masts with sails that had a Bull skull and crossbones painted on top and at the very top pf the mast was a black pirate flag with a matching jolly Rodger.

This Gallon was a pirate ship.

"Interesting, I thought that they stopped making these types of ships 30yrs ago," Robin said.

"Why? It's so cool," Luffy claimed.

"Because of the amount of time and effort that was needed to build them; Galleons are very powerful and can house a lot of cannons, not to mention the Hull was built to withstand sieges. It's essentially a floating fortress," Robin stated.

"So…why stop building them?" Connor asked.

"Because Galleons are notoriously slow, even on windy days it would not get far. When it comes to transporting aid or supplies a Galleon would be able to carry enough to feed a small country but would take twice as long to get there," Robin explained.

"So it's impractical, but as a pirate ship it would be unstoppable," Usopp pointed out.

"Well I would not call it unstoppable, but it would defiantly be very difficult to defeat in a naval confrontation," Robin finished "but it's strange…it looks old…really old,"

"You did say the last one was build 30yrs ago," Usopp pointed out.

"Yes but…it looks much older than that," Robin said.

"How old?" Connor asked; he had never seen this type of ship before.

"It's hard to tell from here but…I'd estimate at least fifty if not sixty years old," Robin stated.

"Then how is it still floating, don't ships have a life span of about twenty years?" Usopp asked.

"Why only twenty years?" Connor asked looking at Usopp.

"Any longer than that and the wood starts to decay and rot due to the salt water, plus most ships don't even last that long. Some get taken apart then the wood gets recycled and made into other things," Usopp explained.

"Hey what's that?" Luffy asked and pointed to a nearby jetty.

The others looked to se Henzo driving what looked like a one person car; it was yellow and hat the initials H-1 painted in read on the bonnet. Henzo drove it off the jetty and into the sea, however just before it hit the water an inflatable balloon blew out from the base and the car floated safety on the water.

Henzo drove it towards the Galleon.

"That. Was. AMAZING!" Luffy cheered with stars in his eyes "What a cool boat, I want it,"

"Of course you do," Usopp sighed.

"Come on guys lets go get that boat," Luffy said and headed in the opposite direction.

"Luffy wait…where are you going?" Usopp called after the rubber captain.

But Luffy didn't respond, he just kept running so the others followed him. Luffy ran all the way back to the Merry and jumped on board. Usopp, Robin and Connor got back to the ship and saw Luffy pulling up the anchor.

"Luffy what are you doing?" Usopp called out.

"Going out to that Galleon of course," Luffy yelled back "It's too far for me to stretch, so I'm taking the ship,"

"You can't just take the Merry whenever and wherever you want!" Usopp said annoyed.

"Why not? It's my ship," Luffy said.

"Usopps right Luffy," Robin said.

Luffy looked at her in surprise.

"You need at least three people to sail that ship. Not to mention all the rocks around," Robin claimed.

"I didn't think of that," Luffy said and then he got an Idea "Hey you lot should come with me, then we'll have enough people to sail the Merry,"

"Absolutely not!" Usopp protested.

"Aww why not it'll be fun," Luffy whined.

"Because it's dangerous, who knows what's on board that thing," Usopp reasoned.

"I want to look at that ship, so I'll come," Robin said.

"You're going?" Usopp asked looking at Robin.

"Yes I've never been on a Galleon before and it's not something we just stumble onto evryday," Robin said with a smile and she boarded the Merry.

"Thanks Robin," Luffy smiled.

He then looked down at Connor and Usopp.

"Get up here you two," Luffy said.

Connor nodded and obediently boarded the ship, Usopp groaned and followed reluctantly followed. He really did not want to go out to the Galleon but he also did not want Luffy on the Merry without someone who knew how to steer the ship.

The Merry sailed out towards the harbor and the Galleon, Zoro slept the entire way. Once the Straw Hats reached the ship Luffy stretched his arm and pulled himself onto the deck, Henzo was there looking at the damage to the ship and the other Straw Hats followed.

The mas had several cuts on it, there were one or two broken swords, a door leading into the steering area was missing, and there was evidence of something heavy smashed threw one of the railings.

"What happened here?" Usopp asked, noticing the damage.

"A battle most likely," Robin said.

"But…where are the bodies?" Connor asked.

Henzo looked over to them and found Luffy in his face.

"Hey old man, give me your boat," Luffy demanded.

"M…M…My boat?" Henzo asked in surprise.

"The one you were driving, I want it," Luffy clarified.

"I'm sorry but the I need the H-1 for my research," Henzo said and headed into the ship.

Luffy and the rest of the crew followed him; Luffy was still demanding Henzos boat. As they explored the ship the Straw Hats found food on that had looked like it had just been abandoned, despite the fact it was still vert fresh and edible, Robin found some out of date navigating instruments that hadn't been used in close to 50yrs.

Usopp tested a few taps and the stove in the kitchen and they worked perfectly, he then went and examined the cannons and found them in tip top shape.

Connor found a ships log and gave it to Robin to read, she flipped through the log and read the ships previous adventures in the grand line, but ended about half wat through. The last entry told of the crews plans to attack Ruluka Island and but nothing was written after that.

"This is too weird. Food left out, everything works and signs of battle but no bodies and fifty year old navigating instruments….something's up," Usopp said.

"Are we sure the ship is that old?" Connor asked.

"Yes, the last date in this log is one from fifty years ago, and the sips current condition matches the time frame," Robin said.

"Then…shouldn't the food have gone rotten by now?" Connor asked.

"Your right it should have. That's the weird part," Usopp said.

Henzo and Luffy met up with the other three straw hats and they hadn't found anyone on board either. Suddenly the radar dish on Henzos strange invention started spinning, the old scantiest checked it and his eyes went wide.

"It can't be…after years of searching…" Henzo gasped, he grabbed his device and ran onto the the deck.

Luffy and the others followed him, there further out to sea was a brightly coloured cloud sitting on the ocean, it was mostly pink but there was some blue and shades of yellow mixed in as well.

"It's the Rainbow Mist," Henzo declared.

The other pirates stared at it in shock.

"But it's too far out…oh I know," Henzo said.

He ran to the end of the ship and boarded the Merry, he let the sails out and the ship headed towards the mist.

Luffy and the others quickly jumped on the Merry before it sailed away.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING OLD MAN?!" Luffy demanded.

"I need to borrow your ship, the H-1 can't get out that far," Henzo said.

"Don't go stealing other people's stuff," Usopp said angrily.

"Aren't you lot pirates?" Henzo asked.

"Hey Luffy….that cloud is getting really close," Connor said in a worried tone.

"Hey that's the mist where the treasure is, right?" Luffy asked.

"According to the books, yes," Robin answered.

"Awesome, let's go and get some," Luffy said excitedly.

"Luffy did you forget that those that go in don't come back?" Usopp panicked.

"Don't worry, it'll be fine," Luffy said with a smile.

The Straw hats looked ahead as the Merry sailed into the fabled Rainbow Mist.


	27. Rainbow Mist Pt 3

_**A.n I own nothing.**_

 _ **Sorry about the late update I recently got a new job that is both stressful and exhausting. It has been really hard to find the energy to write lately.**_

* * *

The Merry finally came out of the mist; the sky was dark and covered in thick grey clouds despite the fact that it was still the middle of the day. The sea had become shallow and all around them were destroyed ships stitching out of the water.

Connor looked around concerned this place felt wrong to him, he couldn't explain it but he just knew that there was something not quite right here…like this place shouldn't exist at all.

Robin and Henzo seemed to focusing on the ships and Henzo was scanning critically taking in every detail like them looking for something

Luffy looked around excitedly and marvelled at all the ships, while Usopp was muttering something about them being haunted.

"Wow look at all the shipwrecks," he said in awe "I can't wait to explore them,"

"Where are we anyway?" Robin asked.

"A place we can never leave, the ships graveyard…Apes Concert," Henzo answered

"Apes Concert…hold on," Robin said and quickly ran to the cabin and got the first volume of the Rainbow Mist series.

When she came back she flipped through the book and found the page she was looking for.

"We found ourselves trapped in a massive ships graveyard, there are ships of every kind filled with treasure the like myself and my friends could only dream of," Robin read out loud "We have decided to call this place Apes Concert,"

Luffy perked up at the mention of treasure and looked over to Robin, Connor and Usopp also turned their attention to the Archaeologist.

"There are hundreds if not thousands of ships here, while the treasure they contain is vast and unimaginable we cannot survive on it," Robin continued.

"However despite the fact that some of these ships look hundreds of years old they are also stocked with food. Food that seemed untouched by time itself, none of us know how this is possible but with it we have decided to make this our home,"

"Who's we? Are there more people here?" Usopp interrupted.

"Apes Concert and everything in it now belongs to us…and we will guard with our lives. This is our playground, our paradise…our Neverland," Robin finished.

The straw hats looked around they could not see this place being a paradise nor any signs of life.

"So this place is filled with tressure than?" Luffy asked excitedly.

"According to the book yes," Robin answered.

"That's nothing but a legend," Hezo insisted.

Luffy jumped down from the figure head and spied one of the larger more stable looking ships.

"That one will do," Luffy said and stretched his arm over to grab it; he then grabbed Usopp.

Usopp looked at Luffys hand and paled he knew what was coming next.

"Let's go Usopp," Luffy said and launched himself and Usopp towards the ship.

Robin stopped the Merry so they would not leave Luffy behind, and continued to read through the book, looking for any more information on Apes Concert. While Robin and Henzo talked about the graveyard and Luffy was off exploring with Usopp; Connor scanned the horizon; his eyes passed over a shadow but then that shadow moved.

"Robin is there any chance that other people are here?" Connor asked.

"It's highly unlikely, why?"

"I just thought I saw something move," Connor claimed.

"Where?" Robin asked.

"There," Connor said pointing at the spot where he'd seen the movement.

Robin saw where Connor was pointing and sprouted an arm against the ship wreak walls, the arm had an eye attached to the palm of the hand and she willed it to look around but saw nothing.

"There's nothing there, you must have been seeing things," Robin said and the arm disappeared.

Connor kept a look out, he was so sure he had seen something or someone move, a short while later Luffy and Usopp came back carrying a large treasure chest; they put it on the deck.

"Hey Look what we found," Luffy announced happily.

Connor, Robin and Henzo looked over as Luffy opened the chest to reveal it filled with gold and various different kinds of gemstones.

"WOW!" Connor said in awe as his eyes reflected the shine of the treasure.

"There are lots more too, we explored three ships and they were full of treasure," Usoop claimed.

"Yeah this place is a pirate's paradise," Luffy agreed.

Robin walked over and took hand full of the gold coins, she eyed them critically. They weren't beliels but something much older and more valuable.

"These are doubloons," she said.

"What are doubloons?" Connor asked. He came over to get a better look at the treasure.

"There an old type of currency, used before Beli . Finding one is really rare," Robin explained.

"How old are we talking about?" Henzo asked.

"The Beli system was introduced 300yrs ago…a single doubloon today is worth 10,000 belie," Robin explained.

"And we have a chest full of them WE'RE RITCH" Luffy cheered.

"Robin, can I look at the doubloons?" Connor asked.

"Of course," Robin said and handed the boy the hand full of old coins.

Connor looked at it with a smile; he had never held treasure before. Alvida never let him near any of the chests that her crew found and Nami tended to hoard it in the cabin. Come to think of it Nami would not let anyone near the tressure unless it was to carry it back to the ship.

Connor noticed a ruby amongst the coins, he picked it up with his spare hand and looked at it; it was very well cut and beautiful.

"How much would this be worth?" Connor asked.

"At least 50,000 Beli ," Robin answered.

"Whoa…that is a lot…right?"

"Yes it is," Robin answered with a smile.

Henzo came over and grabbed a handful of tressure as well; he was looking at it in amazement.

"This may not be the land of eternal youth but the legends of the tressure are certainly true," Robin said.

"I…I…I don't believe it…I thought they were just legends, stories," Henzo said.

"Most stories have some truth to them," Usopp claimed.

Henzo could not argue with that, he put the trouser back in the chest and Connor did the same; suddenly a tin-a-ling sound was heard. The pirates looked around but they were still alone, the chime combined with the mist made it more ominous.

"A…A bell?" Luffy asked.

"Those who disturb the sleeping dead relinquish the chest and leave this place. Or join us in our eternal slumber," a voice echoed throughout the area.

Usopp started shaking and tears started to fall from his eyes out of fear.

"I…I…I'm scared," He cried.

Robin and Connor looked around trying to find the source of the voice; Luffy seemed in different about the situation.

"Who are you? Show yourself," Luffy demanded.

Another bell chime was herd and several shadows appeared on the decks of the surrounding ships, due to the mist they looked like phantoms.

"AAAGGGHHHHHH!" Usopp screamed.

"Now leave…or else," the voice threatened.

Suddenly an Arrow embedded itself just above Zoro's head, the swordsman was still sleeping and completely oblivious as to the danger he was in.

The straw hats whirled around in shock and stared at the Arrow.

"Oi that's to close…you jerks!" Luffy yelled.

He stretched his arm out grabbing onto a nearby mast of an abandoned ship and launched himself at the phantoms. Luffy talked into the phantoms but found that they were unaffected by his attack…in fact they were just sheets held up by a string.

"Huh? There not real?" Luffy asked examining the sheet ghost.

Robin looked in the direction that the Arrow had come from, the ghosts may be fake but the arrow was real and that meant someone was out there.

"GGGGGHHHOOOOSSSTTTTSSSS!" Usopp screamed in fear.

"But that arrow came from over there," Robin said looking at another ship.

Usopp stopped screaming and looked at the ship robin had indicated, suddenly a shadow moved; someone was there. Connor caught the glint of an arrow head.

"Another arrow," he said urgently.

The arrow was released and flew towards Luffy who was still looking at the ghost sheets and had found the thread. An arm suddenly grew out of his shoulder and caught the arrow.

"Got you now," Luffy said and yanked on the string.

Suddenly a kid fell out of the ships crow's nest; he grabbed onto a rope and swung wildly around screaming. Usopp looked up and aimed his slingshot at the poor kid, he released his shot and severed the rope, and the poor kid flew into the ocean near the merry with a splash.

Robin, Usopp, Connor and Henzo ran over to see the kid surface, it was a boy that looked slightly older than Connor, he had short black hair, tanned skin and was wearing a green jacket over a blue polka doted shirt.

"He's just a kid," Usopp observed "What's he doing here?"

"AKABI!" a voice yelled from behind.

The straw hats looked behind them to see to more children drop down onto the Merrys deck.

The first was a very young boy; clearly younger than Connor. He had light sea green hair and he wore a blue sleeveless shirt with a smiley face on it, and under it he wore a white T-shirt; he carried a sword that was too big for him in one hand.

The other was a girl about Connors age; he had shoulder length light purple hair and wore a blue-purple coloured jacket with a green shirt under it, and a white striped skirt.

She was holding back the younger boy trying to stop him from getting to the pirates.

"AKABI!" the blonde boy shouted again.

"Longo stop," the girl begged.

Henzo stared at them in shock and disbelief; Robin Connor and Usopp looked at them in confusion.

"Oh it's just some kids," Usopp said and approached the two children "Where are your…"

Usopp did not get to finish as the blond boy kicked him between the legs and got out of the girls grip. Usopp wined in pain and fell on the deck; the blonde boy ran over to the railing and looked into the ocean with a worried expression. It seems he forgot that there were other people on the ship.

"Akibi…are you all right?" the blond boy yelled.

"Idiot what are you doing…RUN!" the boy in the water responded.

The girl quickly ran up to her friend and drew pulled the sword out of its sheathe and pointed at the pirates, daring them to try anything. Robin and Connor looked at the girl in confusion as neither of them were concerned that she had a weapon in her hand, Connor could tell by the way she held it and her stance that she was not only hesitant to use it but also did not know how to wield a sword properly.

Hezio kept staring at her and the boy in disbelief. Suddenly Luffy flew back on to the Merry and hit the girl on the head causing her to be knocked down on the deck.

"Stop that," he said.

He then turned to Robin.

"Thanks for catching that Arrow," Luffy said.

"No problem, I can't have you dying on me," Robin said.

"So...what's with the kids?" Luffy asked looking at the children who looked back at him in fear.

"Perhaps they live here," Robin suggested.

"Or maybe the mist really does give eternal youth," Connor said.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" Another voice yelled.

Everyone on the ship turned to look at another boy standing on the railing of the Merry opposite the pirates, the other kids faces lit up once they saw him.

The boy was tall with short sandy blond hair, he wore a grey vest over a long sleeved shirt with a marron tiger striped pattern on it, and long pants that were rolled up at his knees. He was holding wat looked like a grenade in one hand.

"If you don't want to die than give up that chest and let my friends go," the boy warned.

"Is that a bomb?" Luffy asked.

The girl and the younger boy ran over to the new boy and apologised for getting caught.

"Hey calm down if you use that you'll blow us all up," Usopp tired.

"So we stick together weather it's life or death…Now hand over that chest," the boy repeated.

"Why we found it, so that makes it ours," Luffy said.

"No everything in Apes Concert belongs to us," the boy said.

"Wow this kid is greedier than Nami," Usopp commented "Look there are plenty of ships filled with treasure, there is more than enough for both of us,"

"Forget it if you won't give us back what's ours than you I'll blow us all sky high," the boy argued.

Henzo started walking towards the children and they stepped back in fear of the older man.

"S…S…Stay back, or I'll…" the boy started.

Henzo hit the button on the grenade and a very large and very bright blinding light emitted from it, once it was gone and everyone's eyes had readjusted the grenade was open and a tiny pirate flag was in the centre.

"Thought so, that's Boom #3," Henzo said with a found smile "It's just a flash bomb to scare people, there's no explosives in it,"

The children stared at him in surprise.

"How did you know that?" Usopp asked.

"Because I invented it, Boom #2 is a smoke bomb and Boom #1 is a stink bomb," Henzo claimed.

"You didn't invent it, our friend did," the girl said angrily.

"Isoka…don't you recognise me?" Henzo asked.

"H…How do you know my name?" the girl known as Isoka asked.

"Don't listen to him he's…" the older boy said.

"Lapanui, Isoka, Longo and Akabi, we used to play pirates together," Henzo said.

The children looked at each other in confusion, there was no way this old man was there friend.

"That's impossible, Henzo is 12yrs old not some creepy old man," the younger boy said.

"Longo…I'm not lying," Henzo assured looking at the younger boy.

"Shut up, I don't know how you know our names but you are not Henzo," the older boy claimed.

"You always were quick to jump to conclusions Lapanui," Henzo said.

The kids stared at the old man in disbelief, they did not believe his claims but he knew their names and how the flash bomb worked.

Suddenly a loud and dangerous roar was herd; everyone looked into the sky and saw a large black Dragon heading in the direction of the Merry. It was a scaly horned, lizard-like creature with big leathery bat-like wings, four legs and a long muscular prehensile tail.

Luffys eyes turned to stares as he started at it in awe, Robin, Connor and Henzo were staring at the mythical creature in shock and Usopp fainted out of fear of the beast.

The dragon swooped down over the Merry, the force from the wind that its wings produced shook the Merry as the dragon past, it then flew vertically upward and hovered above the ship. It opened its mouth and a stream of fire was released. Robin grabbed Connor in attempt to protect him from the dragon.

The pirates covered their heads but thankfully the fire hit the water, creating some steam. The dragon dived down releasing it's hot fire breath into the sea surrounding the ship. Visibility became very low as a thick steam quickly surrounded the ship.

Luffy was looking around wildly for the Dragon but could not see it, suddenly the noise and the flapping of wings stopped and the steam began to clear, once the steam had cleared Henzo noticed that the other children were gone.

"That...was…AWSOME!" Luffy yelled with excitement.

"Not the word I would use," Robin said.

"What was that?" Connor asked as Robin let him go.

"A Dragon…I think," Henzo said.

"A Dragon? It looked different than the ones on Warship Island," Connor stated.

Robin looked at Connor in surprise.

"You've…You've seen Dragons before?" She asked.

"Oh yeah, we found the Dragons nest back in the East Blue there were a lot of Dragons there," Connor claimed.

"T…The Dragons Nest is real?" Robin gasped.

As an Archaeologist she had of course herd legends about the Dragons Nest but she never believed it existed, after all Dragons were creatures of myth and legend.

"How was this one different form the ones you saw at the Nest?" Robin asked curiously.

"Well this one was a different colour and it had bat like wings," Connor said.

"What colour was the ones you saw?"

"Green and they had feathers on their wings. Plus they did not breathe fire," Connor claimed.

"Perhaps this is a different species of dragon," Robin suggested.

"Yeah…maybe," Connor agreed.

* * *

 _Another part of Apes Concert_

The dragon beat its big black wings as it came into land on one of the ships, the mythical creature gently placed the children down on the deck. The kids looked at the creature in annoyance.

"What the hell? Why did you stop us?!" Lapanui yelled in anger.

The Dragon folded its wings on its sided and slowly began to shrink, the wings, tail and scales all receded as the dragon morphed into a new form. Once the transformation was complete a tall man stood in its place.

He was a tall baled, muscular man with black skin, he wore and a dirty leaf green vest with faded yellow linings on top of an open white long sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up just above his elbows. A red sash underneath a thick brown belt, there were also to loser thinner belts that hung down on the right side.

Verticality striped dark brown pants and grey boots, he also had a pale yellow bandanna wrapped around his forehand and tied in a knot on the left side.

"Because you would have gotten yourselves killed," the man scolded.

"No we wouldn't have," Akabi argued.

"Yes you would, they saw through your tricks," the man claimed.

"But we could have taken them," Isoka claimed.

"Isoka just because you know the basics of swordplay does not make you an expert of the blade, even if you were. You would have a hard time beating grownups," the man explained "And Longo you recklessly jumped in putting everyone at risk,"

The kids looked down in shame, they knew he was right.

"I'm sorry Adéwalé ," Longo said "It's just when I saw Akabi crash near their ship…"

The man now known as Adéwalé face softened.

"Looking out for your friends is never a bad thing but you must learn to pick your battles," Adéwalé advised.

"But they took our treasure," Lappuni said.

"Yes they did, encase you didn't notice they were pirates,"

"But this is our territory…" Akabi started "We have to get it back,"

Adéwalé sighed; children were so reckless these days.

"There are other ways to get what you want…especially if you can't win in a face to face fight," Adéwalé claimed.

"But…" Lapanui said.

"Look you lot head back to base, I'll keep an eye on those pirates and if I see an opportunity to get your treasure back I will," Adéwalé suggested.

"Okay," the kids sighed disappointingly together.

"And one of you tell Edward what I'm doing, I do not want to be rescuing him as well," Adéwalé said.

The kids ran off further into Apes Concert heading back towards their base, Adéwalé watched them go. Once they were out of sight he a two medium sized wings and a tail grew out of his back, small horns sprouted from his head. He looked a bit like a devil.

"Right time to go to work," Adéwalé said, he spread his wings and took off into the sky heading back to where he had left the pirates.

* * *

 _ **A.n the fruit used by Adéwalé was the second place Winner in Last years Devil fruit Competition. The Ryu-Ryu Fruit: Western model (Dragon-Dragon) this is a Mythical Zoan type fruit and was created by KuramaFTW.**_

 _ **Although Momomuske has eaten a Devil Fruit that tuns him into a Dragon,**_ _ **KuramaFTW argument that it was a man made Devil fruit and not a Natural one and due to the Zoan fruits can have multiple models due different species being part of the same Animal family** **was a solid argument to accept the entry.**_

 _ **On top of this their has been one mythical Fruit seen in the series so far and as the only Mythical Fruit entered in the Competition it was enough to push it through to 2nd place.**_

 _ **Readers may also remember a poll up earlier this year on which Character to give this Fruit too, Adéwalé received the most votes from this poll.**_


	28. Rainbow Mist Pt 4

_**A.n I own Nothing.**_

 _ **Sorry for the late update, it is a busy time of year with Christmas just around the corner. i hope to have this Arc finished before Christmas, please note I will not be posting anything from the 25th of December until the 7th of January as I will be away on holiday and spending Christmas with my family.**_

* * *

After the kids and the Dragon had disappeared Zoro woke very confused that the Merry was not in the same spot where it had anchored earlier that day. After a quick Explanation from Usopp and an introduction to Henzo Zoro was brought up to speed on what had happened.

"So let me see if I've got this, we're stuck in some mist that leads to a fabled never land filled with Treasure," Zoro stared.

"Right," Usopp agreed.

"And this old man stole our ship so he could look for his friends who went missing in this mist 50yrs ago,"

"That's correct,"

"And now we're stuck in it and there is a Giant Black Dragon flying around,"

"Yep I'm going to make it a member of my crew," Luffy claimed.

Zoro looked at the rest of them like they were crazy.

"Well this is certainly the weirdest dream I've ever had," Zoro said.

"Unfortunately it's not a dream," Robin said.

"I don't know Curly-brows not here so that makes it a dream to me," Zoro claimed.

"Zoro this is serious, not only are we stuck here but there is a Dragon flying around," Usopp urged.

"So, we had Ruji with us for a while. Let's just tell this dragon where the Warship Island is and be done with it," Zoro suggested.

"No, I want him on my crew," Luffy said.

"Luffy you can't have a dragon as a crew mate," Usopp reasoned.

"Why not?" Luffy asked.

"Because it would eat us all, not to mention it would not fit on the ship," Usopp said.

"But I want a dragon," Luffy whined.

While Luffy and Usopp argued over the benefits and danger of having a dragon on the crew Connor realised something and went up to Henzo.

"Hey if your friends went missing in the mist fifty years ago then why aren't they old like you?" Connor asked.

"Connor that's rude," Robin scolded.

"No he's right, they are exactly how I remember them," Henzo agreed.

"Perhaps there is some truth to the eternal youth part of the legend after all," Robin suggested.

"Hmmm…I think it's more likely that time is distorted," Hezo claimed.

"What's that mean?" Connor asked.

"It means that time flows differently here, one day in the mist might be one week or even a year outside…maybe even longer," Henzo explained.

Luffy and Usopp chose that moment to pay attention.

"Are you serious?" Usopp panicked.

"It would explain why Lappuni and the others have not aged," Henzo said.

"But…but how do we tell how much time has passed?" Usopp asked.

"We can't, several years may have already past. There is no way for us to tell," Henzo said.

"Oh well that doesn't sound too bad," Luffy said.

"Luffy don't you get it? While we stay here Nami and the others turn into old folks while we remain young," Usopp said.

"WHAT!WE HAVE TO GET OUT IF HERE!" Luffy panicked loudly.

"Right lets set sail," Usopp agreed "I'll get the sails Luffy you pull in the anchor,"

Luffy and Uospp quickly unfurled the sails and pulled in the anchor, the Merry started to move. Robin did not think that it was a good idea to move because they knew next to nothing about navigating inside the mist; but she kept her opinions to herself.

Luffy sat up on the Merrys figurehead and watched eagerly, he wanted to get out of the mist. The Merry sailed on for a while and Luffy kept a look out, Zoro started doing some maintenance on his swords, Usopp was steering the ship so as not to crash into anything, Robin and Henzo looked through the Rainbow Mist books for answered and Connor looked over the railing.

'I wonder if those kids will be back,' Connor thought, it had been a long time since he had been around kids his age.

Connor was brought out of his thoughts when Zoro walked up behind him. Connor looked up at the swordsmen and saw that Zoro was staring at something. Connor followed the swordsman's gaze and saw a half sunk boat with a goddess figure head sticking out of the Water.

"Oi Luffy…Are we going straight?" Zoro called out.

"Yep, I've been keeping watch," Luffy confirmed.

"You sure? It's just that this boat with the figurehead looks familiar," Zoro claimed.

"Don't worry about it, there are plenty of those around," Luffy assured.

"I wonder…" Robin said "Cen fler,"

Luffy Zoro and Usopp looked around but didn't see any arms sprout, suddenly the cannon fired and the ball flew off into the mist. They waited a few seconds and a large splash of water sprayed onto the deck where the cannon ball had landed right next to the ship.

"What was that?" Zoro panicked gripping his swords "Who's attacking us?"

"No one, that cannon ball was the same one we fired," Usopp claimed.

"How, it was fired into the sky? How did it get behind us?" Connor asked, with slight fear in his voice.

"It appears we are lost," Robin claimed.

"You mean we've been sailing in circles?" Usopp asked annoyed.

"I believe so, it is highly likely that no matter what direction we go in we will always end up at the same starting point," Robin theorised.

Suddenly Luffy stood up, he grabbed the hed of the ship and launched himself out into the mist where he vanished.

"WHAT THE HELL DID HE DO THAT FOR?!" Zoro yelled.

Before anyone could answer something hit the backside of the sails and Luffy fell on the deck laughing.

"That was fun," he laughed "This mystery mist is great,"

"Mystery mist?" Henzo asked.

"It's as good as Name for it as any," Usopp sighed.

"I hate mazes, how do we get out?" Zoro asked.

"We can't, the books ay the mist us a very intricate maze," Robin said.

"S…So there's no way out?" Connor asked worriedly.

"I wouldn't say that, after all whoever the author of these books is, they must have been trapped in here and escaped," Robin reasoned.

"How do you know?" Luffy asked.

"Because Apes concert is exactly how it's described in the books, it's too accurate to be a made up," Robin reasoned.

"Oh I know just read the last book," Luffy suggested.

"I would but I don't have it, I only have 13 out of the 14 volumes," Robin answered.

"So…how do we find the exit?" Usopp asked.

"Maybe those kids would know," Connor suggested.

"And maybe they'll lead us to that Dragon," Luffy said excitedly.

"Luffy this is serious," Usopp said.

"I know getting that Dragon on our crew is definitely a serious matter," Luffy agreed.

Usopp sighed, there was really no arguing with Luffy.

"Even if we did know where Lappuni and his friends are it would be next to impossible to find them," Henzo pointed out.

"True but what if we had directions?" Robin asked.

"And where would we get those?" Zoro responded.

"Let's ask," Robin said and walked over to the railing "Un Fler,"

The others looked over in the direction that Robin was facing and a tall black man was pushed out into the open, he stared at Robin in surprise. He was shocked that the woman had seen him hiding.

"Do you mind taking us to your boss?" Robin asked polity.

"Never," Adéwalé growled.

Suddenly he crouched down and jumped several feet into the air, the straw hats followed him with their heads and in mid-air the man suddenly started to change shape. Wins grew out of his back as did a tail from his behind; scales began to cover his body and his right hand turned into a claw. Adéwalé continued to grow in size and change until in his place was a large black dragon.

The Dragon roared loudly and beat its massive wings to stay in the air.

"SSSOOOOO CCCOOOOOLLLLLLL!" Luffy shouted with stars in his eyes.

"T…T…T…THAT'S A DRAGON!" Zoro yelled.

"ROBIN WHY DID YOU HAVE TO ATTACK A DRAGON?!" Usopp yelled.

"So…was the dragon a man to begin with or did the dragon disguise himself as a human?" Connor asked calmly with a hint of curiosity.

"There are legends that state dragons could change their shape at will and even turn into humans," Robin answered.

"CAN WE PLAESE FOCUS ON THE GIANT LIZARD OF DEATH?!" Usopp screamed in panic.

The Dragon swooped down and flew over the ship only to ascend into the air, a strong gust of wind followed it as it flew. The straw hats had to hang on and shield their eyes they wold have been knocked down if they hadn't. Adéwalé circled around for another pass.

"It's coming back!" Henzo shouted.

"Let it come," Zoro challenged and drew his swords; he stood on the railing ready to strike.

The Dragon swooped down again about this time Zoro slashed his swords into the hard scales as it flew by. The swordsman could feel his swords struggling against the massive beast as sparks flew form the blades as the skimmed across the dragon's side. Adéwalé ascended again.

"You got him," Usopp cheered.

"No…I didn't. I did not cut him," Zoro cursed "Damn those are some tough scales,"

"It's coming back!" Luffy shouted.

Adéwalé was indeed coming back only this time he had his two front claws out stretched like an owl swooping down going in for the kill. Zoro got ready again and Connor also joined him drawing his own sword; he did not know if he could help or not but he would not let Zoro be ripped to shreds by those claws.

Adéwalé dived down again and he crashed into Zoro and Connor with his outstretched claws, the two defending straw hats were pushed back on the deck; but then the Dragon suddenly changed back into a human and fell limply on the deck. His claws reverted to hands and were holding Connors and Zoro's blades; a small amount of blood trickled down them.

"Hey uhh… are you okay?" Zoro asked concerned.

Adéwalés struggled to lift his head and glared at Zoro. He was confused as to why he suddenly lost all his strength, returned to his human form and felt incredibly weak. Luffy, Robin and Henzo circled around him with Usopp hiding behind Luffy as carefully peaking over the Captains shoulder.

"How did you do that?" Henzo asked.

"No clue," Zoro answered and sheathed his swords. Adéwalés arm fell limply to the deck.

"Perhaps he ate a Devils Fruit," Usopp suggested coming out from behind Luffy.

"There's a fruit that tunes you into a dragon? That's so cool, I wish I ate that one," Luffy said.

"I doubt that's the case," Zoro said.

"I've never heard of a fruit that turns someone into a dragon," Robin said.

"Yeah but he has to have eaten a fruit, otherwise he would not be in this state," Usopp reasoned.

"Why is that?" Henzo asked.

"The Kids, sword is made out of Seastone," Zoro claimed.

Robin's eyes wet wide and stared at the short sword that Connor was holding in surprise, she knew how rare Seastone was and wondered where he got it from. Robin bent down and lightly touched the back of the blade testing it, she quickly pulled away when she felt her strength start to drain.

Adéwalé had the same reaction as Robin and in his mind he began to panic, he could not fight against sea stone and know that he had made contact with it he would be unable to move or use his powers.

'Damn it, I need to escape…tell Edward and warn the others,' Adéwalé thought, though he had no clue how he was going to do that. As long as he was in contact with this sword he was at these pirates mercy.

"I see is the whole blade made out of Seastone?" Robin asked.

"No, the handle is made out of normal martials. We think whoever made it wanted to make sure that Fruit users could wield it," Usopp explained.

"I see…Connor may I borrow your sword for a bit," Robin asked.

"Don't we need it to keep him from changing back into a dragon?" Connor asked.

"Don't worry, I have a plan for that," Robin smiled.

Connor looked at robin for a second before pulling his sword out of Adéwalé grip and handing it to Robin. Adéwalé began to feel his energy come back but before he could move arms and hands sprouted from the deck and lifted his weak body.

"What the?" Adéwalé asked as he was carried over to the mast; he tried to resist but he was still not strong enough.

Once at the mast arms sprouted from it grabbing Adéwalé holding him in place, Robin walked over and an am sprouted above she handed Connors sword to it and the arm pressed the blade against Adéwalé's throat.

Adéwalé began to feel weak again and he glared at Robin.

"That's, better, now let's have a little chat," Robin said smiling sweetly.

"She is really creepy," Zoro claimed.

"Wait Robin," Luffy said running over.

Robin looked up at Luffy wondering what her new Captain wanted.

"Luffy we need to find a way out of the mist," Robin reminded him.

"I know but before you ask him about that, I have to ask him something," Luffy said.

Robin looked at Luffy in surprise wondering what the captain would want; Luffy approached Adéwalé and looked at him.

"Hey you, join my crew," Luffy said with a big smile.

Zoro, Connor and Usopp sighed and shook their heads; Henzo Robin and Adéwalé blinked in confusion at Luffys question.

"E…Excuse me?" Adéwalé asked.

"You're a Dragon that's so cool; you should join my crew,"

"No," Adéwalé said.

"Pleeeesssseeeeee," Luffy begged.

"No,"

Luffy thought for a second and then came up with an idea.

"If you join I'll give you lots of meat," Luffy offered.

Adéwalé did not know if Luffy was being serious or not, who bargains with meat?

"I don't care what you offer me the answer is still no," Adéwalé declared.

"I don't care, your joining my crew," Luffy said.

"YOU CAN'T JUST DECIDE THAT!" Adéwalé yelled angrily.

"Buddy word of advice, don't bother," Zoro warned coming over.

"Yeah Luffy doesn't take no for an answer," Usopp agreed.

Connor nodded in confirmation. Adéwalé stared at the other pirates, wondering how they had survived this long. Robin decided to begin her questioning despite Luffy still trying to convince the man to join them.

"What's your name?" Robin asked.

"None of your business," Adéwalé answered.

"Alright Mr None of Your Business, where are those children we saw earlier?" Robin asked.

"Safe and away from you," Adéwalé growled.

"I see…so there is a base around here somewhere," Robin said "Where is it?"

"I'd never tell you that,"

"Do you know how to get out of the mist?"

Adéwalé hesitated for a second before answering.

"No," he claimed.

"Oh that's a shame," Robin said.

"You can do whatever you want to me but Edward will come for me," Adéwalé said bravely.

"Who's Edward?" Henzo asked.

"My Captain, and once he's here he will kill you all," Adéwalé warned.

"Sounds like a challenge," Zoro grinned.

"Is that why you won't join me? Because your part of a different crew?" Luffy asked.

"Yes, and even if I wasn't I would never join you," Adéwalé declared.

"So if I beat him up…then you'll join me," Luffy reasoned.

"What NO!" Adéwalé yelled.

"Then it's decided, let's find this Edward and kick his ass," Luffy declared.

"Edward is the only man I would ever follow…HEY ARE YOU LISTING TO ME!" Adéwalé yelled angrily.

But Luffy was not listing; he ran back up to the Merry's figure head and took a deep breath.

"OI EDWARD I'M GOING TO KICK YOUR ASS…SO HURRY UP AND GET OVER HERE!" Luffy called out into the mist at the top of his lungs.

"Luffy be careful not to fall," Usopp warned.

"Is…Is he drunk?" Adéwalé asked.

"No, I don't let him near the alcohol, that would spell doom for us all," Zoro answered.

Adéwalé did not think it was possible but Luffy was way worse than Edward.


	29. Rainbow Mist Pt 5

_**A.n I own nothing.**_

* * *

The Merry continued to sail through the mist and did not make any progress, in the end the straw hats dropped the anchor and tried to get Adéwalé to tell them where the kids were but their guest still refused mainly because Luffy kept saying he would beat Edward up.

Luffy sat on the Merrys figure head still yelling for Edward to come and get his ass kicked, Usopp and Connor were leaning against the ships railing by the figurehead looking out into the mist.

"Oi Connor can't you see the way out?" Usopp asked.

Connor shook his head.

"I can't see through the mist, I've tried but I just can't," Connor answered sadly.

"Hey it's okay, we'll figure something out," Usopp assured.

"Hey Connor if you can't find the way out can you find Edward?" Luffy asked looking back at the boy.

"Luffy I've never met this Edward so how would I find him?" Connor asked.

"I don't know, you're the one with the weird eyes," Luffy said.

"My eyes are not weird," Connor huffed.

"Can you try….Please?" Luffy asked pleadingly.

Connor sighed and activated his second sight, he looked around but saw nothing and Connor turned around and looked over the other side of the ship. His glowing eyes passed over Adéwalé who had a red aura around him.

Adéwalé stared in shock as he saw Connors eyes, he was sure the boys eyes had been brown and now they had changed to yellow; Adéwalé had only seen one other person with eyes like that.

'T…T…That's impossible…His eyes are they like Edwards?' Adéwalé thought.

"So can you find him?" Luffy asked.

Connor shook his head.

"No, I still can't see through the mist and no one is hiding nearby," Connor answered.

"Aww….oh well Edward will turn up eventually," Luffy smiled.

"Man I'm getting Hungary, where's blondie when you need him?" Zoro complained, he was keeping an eye on Adéwalé.

"Don't you lot have a cook?" Henzo asked.

"Yes but he's back in town," Robin answered.

"Dose anyone else know how to cook?" Luffy asked.

"No," Zoro and Connor answered.

"Yes," Robin, Usopp and Henzo answered at the same time.

"You can cook?" Zoro asked Robin.

"Yes I learned when I was little. Though I can only do small stuff like eggs and toast," Robin admitted.

"Well I lived alone for many years and learned how to make some basic and easy meals," Usopp said "I bet I could whip something edible up,"

Usopp turned to Connor.

"Hey want to help me?" Usopp asked.

"I…I don't know how," Connor responded a bit hesitant.

Usopp looked over at Connor in surprise, he would have thought that one of his former masters would have had him do some work in the kitchen but apparently that was not the case.

"You've never had to cook before?" Usopp asked.

"I did once but it came out burnt and inedible, I was not allowed back in the kitchen after that," Connor said.

"Well come on then I'll show you a thing or two," Usopp urged.

Connor sighed and went with the sniper, he hoped he would not have to do much; he did not want to repeat his previous cooking experience…especially the punishment he had received for burning the food.

'Then again if the food dose turn out burnt, I could always feed it to Luffy,' Connor thought to himself.

Adéwalé watched them head into the ship, he looked over at Luffy. He did not want to tell him where Edward and the other children were but Edward would need to know that there was someone else with the same gift as him.

If it came down to a fight Adéwalé had no doubt Edward would win, after all he had seen the man clear the decks of both pirate and marine ships alike in under a minute and when it came to combat there was very few who could match Edwards skills.

"Hey Straw hat," Adéwalé called out.

Luffy looked over to him.

"Let me go and I'll lead you to Edward," Adéwalé said.

Luffy smiled excitedly.

* * *

Edward sat behind a desk with a serious expression on his face as he listed to what Lappuni and Isoka were saying: he was having a hard time believing them.

He was a man of about medium height with messy blond hair; he had a semi-shaven beard and light blue eyes. He wore what looked to be pale white and sea-washed blue hooded robe, it was hard to see them under the layers of leather armour that covered his torso and arms.

He was armed with four flintlocks two hanging on his chest and two behind his twin sheathed cutlasses. The weapons were attached to leather straps that sat on a frayed red sash around his waist.

According to the children there was another pirate crew that had entered the mist, Edward had little doubt that this was true because sometimes new ships just appeared in the mist for no reason but they were always abandoned.

However he did doubt that the children's story of their missing friend suddenly turning into an old man, it just seemed impossible. He had been on the grand line for half a year now and in that time he had seen and experienced things that could be only described as Impossible.

After all he had a Dragon as his first mate.

"Longo don't believe them their here to steal our tressure," Lappuni insisted.

"But he knew that the Boom #3 was a fake and what the other two models did. We never told anyone outside our group about them," Longo claimed.

"So he saw through our tricks that does not make the old man Henzo," Lappuni urged.

"But he said our names…and we certainly didn't tell him them,"

"Humph lucky guess,"

"But what if it really was Henzo? What if years have passed while we've been stuck in the mist?" Pauku asked.

Edward continued to listen to the children bicker and he decided to intervene.

"Has anyone seen Adéwalé?" Edward asked.

The children stopped arguing and looked over towards him.

"He went to spy on the pirates," Isoka answered.

"Yeah after he flew us to safety he said he was going to keep an eye on them," Akibi agreed.

"He should've been back by now," Edward commented and stared off into space for a few seconds "Oh well he can handle himself,"

"Edward, do you think that Hezo could have grown into an old man while we've been in the mist?" Akibi asked.

"Henzo was your friend who fell of the galleon that brought you right?" Edward asked.

"Yeah we met an old man who claimed that he was our friend. He knew out names and even what each Boom model did,"

"Well it's obviously a lie, only gullible children would believe something so outrageous," Lapunni scoffed.

Edward shot Lappuni a glare and the boy flinched under the gaze.

"Need I remind you that you are a child," Edward pointed out.

"Edward…it is Henzo right?" Longo asked desperately.

"It's a little farfetched…but there is another pirate ship with a crew has entered the mist and that's never happened before," Edward started "There are a lot of unexplained and Impossible things on the sea this mist being one of them,"

"But just because the mist is real does not mean that someone can just age instantly," Lauppuni reasoned.

"Why not? Do you have any other theories?" Edward asked.

"No…But… it can't happen It's impossible," Lappuni argued.

"Lappuni things are only impossible if you refuse to believe in them. If Longo believes that this old man is Henzo then he's Henzo until we can prove otherwise," Edward said with a smile.

Longo smiled.

Suddenly a loud bell rang the occupants of the room all looked towards the ceiling listing to the bell.

"That's the perimeter alarm…a ship must be approaching," Akibi said.

"But the only other ship is the one those pirates are on," Lappuni said

Edward ran out the door onto the deck and quickly scaled up the crow's nest. He could see the approaching pirate ship on the distance.

"So there are other pirates here, how did they find us?" Edward wondered.

He pulled out his spyglass and spotted the approaching ship. He saw Adéwalé on deck with the pirates pointing directly at the ship Edward and the children were on.

* * *

The Merry approached a large broken warship, it was an older model and Robin recognised it from the type of ships used over 50 years ago. The mast was destroyed and there was a large how in the ships side, thankfully it looked like the ship had run aground on some other sunken ships in the shallow waters so it sat above the water line.

"So that's where you've been living," Zoro stated as the Merry approached a wrecked Marine Warship.

"Yes it's fairly big and it's easy to defend," Adéwalé responded.

"Defend against what?" Robin asked.

"Ships aren't the only thing that comes into the mist," Adéwalé warned.

Suddenly a man with a white hood covering his face landed in a crouching position on the Merrys figure head. Luffy lost his balance and fell backwards onto the deck.

"Hey that's my spot!" Luffy shouted.

The man didn't respond and drew one of his cutlasses; he jumped off the figure head and aimed his swords at Luffy. Luffy's face paled and he quickly jumped out of the way, he then aimed a punch at the man but Edward took a step back and Luffy's outstretched arm went straight past him.

If Edward was shocked to see Luffy's arm stretched no one could tell because of his hood. Luffy pulled his arm back to its normal shape and swept his leg across the deck trying to catch Edward off guard, but the assassin rolled over the leg cutting it with his cutlass in the process. Luffy growled in pain and annoyance before trying to punch Edward again this time Edward slid under Luffy's arm on his knees he stuck his sword in the air cutting a long gash across the rubber captains arm.

"Hey that hurt!" Luffy yelled as he pulled back his arm.

Edward pulled out one of his guns and shot Luffy. The bullet hit Luffy directly where his heart was and the bullet caused Luffy's skin to be pushed back, once there was no longer any force behind it the bullet was slingshot back at twice the speed. It hit the side of the warship blowing a portion of the front of.

All the occupants on the Merry stared at the new hole in shock.

"Oi Luffy don't go destroying their home," Zoro scolded.

"Sorry, but I can't control where the things that bounce off me go," Luffy said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head.

Edward put his gun away and drew his second cutlass, he then charged at Luffy. He crouched down and brought his swords across horizontally and a gust of air hit Luffy and blew him off the ship.

"Zoro he's all yours," Luffy cried as he disappeared into the mist.

Zoro looked at the spot that Luffy had disappeared form and rolled his eyes; he turned his attention to their attacker and drew two of his swords.

"So he can make attacks like I can," Zoro said as an exited smirk formed on his face.

Edward turned his attention towards Zoro and the two swordsmen clashed, Zoro let lose a flurry of blows and Edward blocked each one. The attacks were so strong that shockwaves were formed from the blows. Their swords locked together and they started pushing against each other.

Edward slammed his knee into Zoro's stomach causing the swordsman to hunch over in pain, the assassin rolled over Zoro's hunched over form and when he stood up Edward slashed across Zoro's back causing him to cry out in pain Zoro turned in time to block Edward's finishing blow.

"That's cheating," Zoro growled.

"Cheaters win mate," Edward said with a smirk.

The two pirates continued exchanging blows each one was blocked and parried by the other suddenly Edward pulled out a ball and threw it to the ground creating a smoke screen that surrounded him and Zoro, Zoro quickly looked around but couldn't see two feet in front of him.

"I can't see!" Zoro shouted.

"I can," Edward's voice said.

Zoro suddenly felt a sharp pain across his chest, he swung out but didn't hit anything he then felt the same pain across his arms and then his legs, finally Zoro was able to block Edward's next attack. He then took a page from Edward's playbook and kicked the assassin in the head that sent him flying against the railing of the ship.

"Now you're getting it," Edward said.

They clashed again each was pushing against the other not willing to give up or let the other win.

"Your pretty good," Zoro smirked.

"You're not so bad yourself," Edward claimed.

However before the fight could continue Luffy reappeared from the mist an crashed into Edwards back, causing both fighters to drop their swords and sending them flying across the deck. They hit the railing bounced off it and fell into the sea with a splash.

"Well that was anti-climactic," Robin stated.

Luffy went over the side of the railing in time to see both swordsmen surface.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Both Zoro and Edward yelled at the same time, clearly angry.

"Sorry Zoro," Luffy laughed.

"NO YOUR NOT!" Zoro yelled back.

Edward took the opportunity to swim back to the ship and Zoro followed. Once on deck Zoro picked up and sheathed his weapons; he started to wring his shirt out of the water. Edward made a dash for his swords and once he retrieved them he was about to start fighting again when Adéwalé came up to Edward and smacked him on the back of the head.

"Ow," Edward said, he turned and glared at Adéwalé.

"What do you think you're doing?" Adéwalé asked "We've talked about you just attacking random ships,"

"I was trying to rescue you," Edward defended.

"Rescue me?"

"Yes they captured you and made you tell them where we were,"

Adéwalé groaned and ran his hand over his face.

"Edward they did capture me but not in the way you think…" Adéwalé started but didn't finish because Luffy interrupted.

"You're Edward?" Luffy interrupted running up to him.

"Yes," Edward answered.

"I'm going to kick your ass," Luffy declared.

"Uhh…what?" Edward asked confused.

"If I beat you then Adéwalé has to join my crew," Luffy claimed pointing at Adéwalé.

"That's not…I never said or agreed to that," Adéwalé claimed.

"Ade…is there something you want to tell me?" Edward asked "Are you leaving?"

"What? No…he saw my Dragon form and now he wants me in his crew," Adéwalé sighed.

"And he thinks if he beats me you'll join him," Edward stated in a disbelieving tone.

"That's about it," Adéwalé nodded.

Edward looked at Luffy confused by his logic…then it dawned on him.

"Wait…his crew? He's the Captain?" Edward asked in shock.

Zoro came over and bonked Luffy on the head.

"What was that for?" Luffy demanded.

"Luffy don't leave an enemy to me if you're just going to finish him off yourself," Zoro scolded.

"Sorry I didn't know I was going to be in the way when I landed," Luffy apologised.

"It doesn't matter, you said he was mine and then you go knocking him and me off the ship,"

"But Zoro, he sent me flying in the first place,"

"Listen you rubber idiot next time you pick a fight with someone finish them off first. Don't go knocking them and me into the sea!" Zoro yelled.

Edward watched as Zoro scolded the captain and did not know what to make of this other crew. He spied Robin and Henzo watching and he guessed the old man was the one Longo had been on about.

"Exuse me but who are you?" Robin asked approaching Edward.

Edward put his hands on the hilt of his cutlasses, ready just encase the woman tired anything and eyed her suspiosly; then Luffy who was still being scolded by Zoro. He turned his attention to Adewle.

"And you're sure you're not a prisoner?" Edward asked.

"No, I brought them here for other reasons," Adéwalé claimed.

He leaned closer and whispered something in Edwards's ear. Edwards's eyes went wide and he looked at Adéwalé in surprise.

"You sure?" he asked.

"Positive, but I would like you to confirm it," Adéwalé said.

"What are you talking about?" Robin asked.

"Nothing," Edward said and sheathed his blades.

Zoro and Luffy walked over to him, Luffy seemed to ignore his injuries. Edward tuned to them and held out his hand.

"Captain Edward Kenway," Edward introduced.

"I'm Luffy," Luffy said and shook Edwards hand.

"Sorry about attacking you, I thought you had captured my first mate," Edward said.

"Your first mate?" Zoro asked.

"He means me," Adéwalé said "My Name's Adéwalé,"

"I can't pronounce that…I'm going to call you Adds?" Luffy asked.

"No," Adéwalé said.

"How about Dew?"

"No,"

"Whale?"

"How about my name?"

"Whale it is," Luffy said with a smile.

Edward couldn't help but laugh at this.

"I think you might have a new nickname," Edward laughed.

"Call me that and I will run you through with a harpoon," Adéwalé growled at Edward.

"Don't worry I'll stick to Ade," Edward assured.

He then turned to Zoro.

"Your pretty good when it comes to sword fighting," Edward complimented "Sorry about trying to hack you to pieces,"

"Meh it gave me something to do," Zoro shrugged.

"Do you want some help treating your injuries?" Edward offered.

"Nah, I'll get Chopper to do it later," Zoro answered.

"Chopper?" Edward asked.

"Our Doctor," Robin supplied.

"You have a doctor named Chopper…that is not scary at all," Adéwalé joked.

"Getting back to the point, if you did not capture my mate and force him to tell us where we were…why did you come here?" Edward asked.

"We did not come here to fight, we want to know how to get out of the mist," Robin claimed "Adéwalé told us that you lived here so we were hoping you could help us,"

Before Edward could answer someone called his name.

"EDWARD!" a young voice suddenly yelled.

Everyone on the Merry's deck turned and looked up at the warship where Lappuni and his friends were, they were looking at the other pirates ship in fear. Lappuni jumped down onto the Merry and drew a small sword.

"Don't worry I'll back you up," Lappuni said.

Edward sighed.

"Put it away lad, we're not fighting," Edward instructed.

"What? But Adéwalé…"

"I'm fine, I'm not hurt. This is all one big misunderstanding," Adéwalé claimed.

"I bet they forced him to say that," Lappuni accused.

Edward signed and removed his hood, Lapunni was very closed minded. He then turned back to Robin.

"Look as much as I'd like to help you we don't know of any way out of this mist," Edward said honestly "If we did we would have used it already,"

"I see…that's a disappointment," Robin said.

"Why are you disappointed, I bet you were plaining on taking the treasure with you," Lappuni accused.

"Trust me Lappuni that is the las thing these pirates want," Henzo said.

Lappuni turned to the old man and glared at him.

"Shut up, I don't trust pirates or Adults," Lappuni declared.

"Does that mean you do not trust me or Edward?" Adéwalé asked.

Lauppuni turned to them.

"And after we saved your life too," Edward sighed in a fake hurt tone.

"I must admit that trusting pirates is a bad idea, but if he doesn't trust adults does that mean you do not trust your mother?"

"Of course I trust my mother," Lappuni defended.

"But she's an adult," Edward pointed out.

"No she's not my mother is a mum," Lappuni declared.

Edward and Adéwalé burst out laughing at Luppunis naivety.

"Hey what's so funny?" Lappuni demanded.

"You, you're still so young and childish," Adéwalé laughed.

"I AM NOT!"

"It's all right lad, stop trying to be a grown up and enjoy your youth," Edward advised.

"This is getting us nowhere," Zoro said.

Just then Connor and Usopp came on deck holding plates of hot food, everyone turned to them and Luffy started drooling at the sight of the food.

"Ta Da! Usopp's special lunch is ready," Usopp declared.

Luffy ran over and started shoving some of it in his mouth. Usopp noticed Edward, Adéwalé and Lapunni.

"Do you guys want some too?" Usopp offered.

"Do you have any booze?" Edward asked.

"I like the way you think," Zoro smiled and walked into the ship, he came back with two bottles of alcohol and gave one to Edward.

Robin walked over and helped put the plates down on the deck, Edward and Adéwalé went to join the other pirate crew in eating lunch. Luffy noticed that Isoka, Akibi, Paoku and Longo were watching them eat.

"Hey you guys want any? It's yummy," Luffy offered.

"Can we?" Longo asked.

"Sure, it's not as good as Sanji's but it's still tasty," Luffy answered.

The four children jumped onto the merry and ran over to the straw hats and helped themselves to the food, Lappuni tried to stop them but they would not listen. Once the kids were settled and eating Usopp started telling them about the straw hats adventures on the Grand Line and how they came from the East Blue.

"The East Blue that means you came here over Reverse Mountain right?" Edward asked.

"Yeah it was really fun, scary but fun," Usopp asked.

"How did you get to the Grand Line?" Robin asked.

"I was a Privateer, but our crew eventually turned to piracy because the Captain was not satisfied with the crew cut of what we stole," Edward explained "So we came to the Grand Line and became pirates,"

"What's a Privateer?" Longo asked.

Connor leaned closer he was curious to know as well.

"Privateers are people who are employed by governments to steal cargo, supplies and treasure form other countries, usually ones that are at war with each other," Edward answered.

"There like the seven warlords of the sea, only the world government does not recognise them and countries that have Privateers are genially not affiliated with the world government," Robin added.

"So they're like Pirates for hire," Long said.

"In away, but only for one country; they're also used as naval scouts and part of that countries Navy," Edward added.

"What about you how did you get out in the grad line?" Usopp asked Adéwalé.

"I was born here," Adéwalé answered.

"Really? How did you get involved with Edward?" Luffy asked.

"I was on the wrong ship at the wrong time," Adéwalé claimed.

"It wasn't that bad," Edward said.

"You sailed through a cyclone,"

"So we lived," Edward claimed causally.

"A cyclone Edward, what idiot with a death wish sails through a cyclone on the Grand Line?" Adéwalé asked.

"You sailed through a Cyclone?" Luffy asked enviously "Lucky Nami always avoids storms or makes us get out of them as fast as we can,"

"I think I'm starting to like him," Edward smiled.

Adéwalé groaned.

As Lunch went on Lappuni refused to eat and glared at his friends who were engaged in Usopp's story's Edward was only half listening as he had gotten into a drinking contest with Zoro much to Adéwalé annoyance.

Once Zoro and Edward had finished their fifth bottle, Adéwalé decided to stop it before things got out of hand.

"But Ade I'm not even tipsy yet," Edward whined.

"Yeah plus we haven't hit the heavy stuff either," Zoro added.

"Edward," Adéwalé warned.

"Ughh fine, you're such a kill joy you know that," Edward said.

He turned to Zoro.

"Sorry mate I have to pull out, he never lets me drink and sail," Edward apologised.

"For good reason, last time you nearly ran the Jackdaw into a cliff," Adéwalé reminded

"But I didn't,"

"No the sharp jagged rocks that punctured the hull got in your way,"

"It was one time," Edward claimed.

"It was four times, why any of our crew still lets you at the helm is beyond me," Adéwalé corrected.

Zoro laughed at this, he really liked these two. After a few more minutes of conversation Edward pulled Adéwalé to the side away from the other pirates.

"Now which one has the gift?" Edward asked in a low unshed voice.

"The boy, I don't know how but he possesses it," Adéwalé said and gestured at Connor.

"Right, how do you think we should do this?" looking in Connors direction.

"Subtlety he may be hesitant to show it to you," Adéwalé advised.

"Got it," Edward said.

He and Adéwalé approached Connor who was listing to Usopp's retelling of saving Alabasta and even though he was there for them Usopp made it sound so exiting and different then what he remembered. Connor looked up at Edward as the older pirate looked down on him.

"So Ade tells me your eyes glow, is that true?" Edward asked.

Connors eyes went wide as he stared at Edward and Adéwalé. Luffy Usopp and Zoro stopped what they were doing and looked at the other two pirates in surprise.

"EDWARD!" Adéwalé yelled.

"What?" Edward asked.

"How do you know about the kid's sight?" Zoro asked suspiciously.

"Adéwalé just told me," Edward said.

"I…I saw it earlier," Adéwalé admitted.

Edward bent down so he was eye level with Connor, Connor moved back a bit in fear.

"So how does it work? Dose the world go dark and you can see people in different colours? Do certain places appear lighter than others?" Edward asked.

Connor stared at Edward in surprise.

"H…How do you know?" Connor asked surprised.

"Well…I have it too," Edward said and his eyes turned a familiar yellow.

The straw hats stared at Edward in shock; they were amazed that someone other than Connor had the same sight as him. Edward looked at the straw hats and noticed that there Auras were blue though Connors was a bit brighter than normal.

"So care to show me yours?" Edward asked as his eyes went back to normal.

Connor instantly activated his sight and saw Edward and Adéwalé were glowing blue. Edward looked into Connors glowing eyes and nodded in satisfaction.

"Yep that looks like mine, can you tell me what colour I am?" Edward asked.

"your blue," Connor answered and deactivated his sight.

"So you have the same power as Connor?" Luffy asked.

"Looks that way," Edward agreed.

"Can you teach me how to use it?" Connor asked.

"No, but I can teach you about it," Edward claimed.

"Why not?" Zoro asked.

Edward turned his attention to Zoro.

"Because no one can teach someone else how to use this gift, it's like breathing. If you have it you just know how to turn it on and off," Edward claimed "Figuring out what each colours mean and knowing about it…that can be taught,"

He then looked back at Connor.

"So would you like to know about your gift?" Edward asked.

"Yes," Connor answered.


	30. Rainbow Mist Pt 6

**_A.n I own nothing._**

 ** _I would like to address the most frequently asked question that has been sent to since the Edward and Adéwalé appeared: Dose Edward know if Connor is his Grandson? _**

**_The answer is No. This is because the mist distorts time, so at this point in time Edward is still a pirate and has not joined the Assassins yet, so Haythem has not been born. Connor similarly dose not know of his fathers side of his family yet as that was revealed to him by the Assassins. So he dose not know he is talking to his Grandfather and like Edward dose not realise that they are related._**

 ** _In simple terms: Wibbly wobbly timey wimeys._**

* * *

Edward led Connor away from the others to the other end of the deck, he wanted to talk to Connor in private about his gift. Adéwalé joined him as he knew about Edwards's gift as well to help explain or clarify tings if needed, Zoro and Robin joined them as Robin was curious and as eager to learn about this strange power as Connor. Zoro did not want Connor alone with the other two pirates; he did not trust them or Robin.

Once at the bow of the ship they sat down on and robin leaned against the railing. Connor sat next to Zoro backs against the outside kitchen wall and Edward and Adéwalé sat across from them.

"So…how's this going to work?" Zoro asked.

"I'll explain this gift the best I can and then I'll answer Connors questions…but be warned even though I possess it I do not know everything about it," Edward said.

"You probably know more than me," Connor said.

"That brings up a good point, what do you know about your gift?" Adéwalé asked.

"Not much, just that it's never wrong and what two of the colours mean," Connor answered.

"Oh…Okay…wow," Edward said.

"Did I say something wrong?" Connor asked.

"No, No…It's…let's just start from the beginning," Edward suggested.

Connor nodded and paid very close attention to what Edward was about to say, he wasn't the only one; Robin and Zoro leaned in closer too.

"So the human body has five senses, Hearing, Sight, Smell, Taste and Touch. It's how we determine what's what in the world, everyone has these senses but some have a sixth sense," Edward started.

"The glowing eyes," Zoro interrupted.

Edward nodded.

"Right, now here's were it gets…a little complicated. The sixth sense or as a friend of mine calls it the Sense, is a special sense that only appears in certain individuals. Those who possess it are able to instinctively know how people and objects relate to them, which manifests as a coloured glow," Edward explained.

"The coloured Auras that I see around people," Connor said.

"Right there are four Red, Blue, White and Yellow. Do you know what the colours mean?" Edward asked.

"Only two, Red is bad Blue is good," Connor answered.

"Well that's a good start, if you see a Red person then that means they want to hurt you or are a threat to you in some way and Blue means that they are your friends or allies and you can trust them," Edward stated.

"What about Yellow and White?" Robin asked.

"They're a bit different, if a person appears White it means that they are neither friend nor foe, they will not hinder you but they won't help you either. Certain parts of the environment can also glow White as well; that means you can use it to your advantage," Edward claimed.

"How?" Connor asked.

"Well you could hide from pursuers or use them to eavesdrop on conversations," Adéwalé supplied "Or hide dead bodies in them,"

"That works?" Robin asked.

"You would be very surprised how no one ever checks bushes or haystacks for bodies," Adéwalé confirmed.

"So what does Yellow mean?" Connor asked getting back on topic "I've only seen a yellow person a few times,"

"Yellow is persons of interest, you will only ever see yellow in people. Let's say you got lost in a busy market and you wanted to find him," Edward said pointing at Zoro "All you would have to do is stand above the crowd and use your sight. If you are focusing on a single person or looking for someone in particular they will appear yellow and once you catch up to them they will appear the colour that they were before,"

"You said that only people glow yellow, why is that?" Robin asked.

"Well that's not entirely true, sometimes objects glow yellow if it will help you find the person you're looking for," Edward clarified.

"What kind of objects?"

"Clues mostly, letters, clothes, footprints, basically anything that will help you find whoever you're looking for," Edward answered.

"I see…it defiantly is a powerful ability," Robin contemplated.

"Indeed and that's only the first stage," Adéwalé agreed.

"First stage?" Connor asked a little surprised.

"You mean there's more too it?" Zoro asked.

"Well…maybe, this sense is like any other skill or mussel. The more you use it the stronger it becomes and once mastered it can evolve into something even more powerful," Edward claimed.

"It'll become even more powerful…how?" Robin asked.

"That I can't tell you," Edward said sadly.

"Why not?" Connor asked.

"Because I don't know, I only recently found out that it could evolve myself and I am not near that stage yet myself,"

"Oh," Connor said disappointed.

"So how will the kid know when his sense is ready to evolve?" Zoro asked.

"I was told that there would be signs and the evolution process would be painful. But once a person has masted their sense it will evolve on its own," Edward claimed.

"So…what do I have to do to master it?" Connor asked.

"Just keep using it; it might not evolve at all. You'll know when you've mastered it, do you mind telling me what you see with it?"

"Just the colours of people, a yellow trail that rarely appears but it never stays long," Connor answered.

"The environment doesn't glow?" Adéwalé asked.

Connor shook his head.

"I saw a door glow white once but that was it," Connor answered.

"Ah, you've still got a long way to go then," Edward claimed "Once the environment starts to glow then the yellow trail will come more easily but only if you're focusing on someone. Once you can see people and the environment glow and make the yellow trail appear at will you will have mastered the first stage of your sight,"

"So if I want to make my sight stronger I have to practice using it?"

"Well yeah, I mean you don't just pick up a sword and expect to be a master swordsmen. It takes time and practice but it grows as you do and soon you'll be able to see things with it you never thought possible," Edward finished "it just takes time,"

Connor nodded in understanding, he knew he had a long way to go but he was exitited and determined to master his sight. Now that he understood more about it he hoped it would be easier.

"Why do only certain people have this gift?" Robin asked.

"I honestly don't know," Edward answered "There's a theory that it's heritridoal but there is no proof of that,"

"Do you mind if I ask when did you first discover you had this sense?" Edward asked Connor.

"I don't remember, I've always had it," Connor claimed.

"Must have been very young…mine showed up just before my sixth birthday…freaked my parents out," Edward chuckled "the moment it showed up I knew how to turn it on…but turning it off took some practice,"

"Edward don't forget about the warning," Adéwalé interrupted.

"What…oh right," Edward responded.

"Warning what warning?" Zoro asked.

"Don't let anyone you don't trust see or know about your sight," Edward warned.

"Why?" Robin asked.

"Because, they will kill him for it," Edward warned.

"W…What?" Connor gasped fearfully.

"What the hell does that mean?" Zoro growled angrily.

"I don't know why but there is a law that states if anyone possesses glowing yellow eyes they are to be handed over to the government for immediate execution or killed on sight," Edward claimed.

Zoro, Robin and Connors eyes widened in fear. Why would the government make such a stupid law? Did that mean that there were others who had this gift but were killed for it before they could understand it?

"B…B…B…But why? I did nothing wrong," Connor said.

"We don't know why that law exists but if any marines or soldiers see you using it they will kill you without hesitation," Adéwalé warned "It is part of the Reason Edward has such a high bounty,"

"Yep my wanted poster says _Dead Only_ ," Edward agreed.

Zoro put a comforting hand on Connors shoulder and the boy looked up at him.

"Don't worry kid I won't let anyone kill you," Zoro promised.

Connor nodded grateful that Zoro would look out for him. Then he remembered that both Zoro and robin were a mix of colours when he had firs used his sight on them.

"I have a question, is it possible for someone to be a mix of colours?" Connor asked.

"Oh yeah, most definitely," Edward answered "I haven't seen a mixed person in years though,"

"What does it mean if someone is mixed?"

"Depends on the colours, what mix did you see?"

"Mainly red and white,"

"Oh well that means someone who was indifferent to you was becoming suspicions of you, as long as white was the dominate colour you were safe. Once a person becomes a full red that's when you need to start worrying," Edward claimed.

Connor processed what Edward was saying it made sense and explained a lot. When Connor had first used his sight on Zoro he appeared white with a hint of red but the next time he'd used it red was slowly becoming the dominate colour. Later Zoro had become blue and had remained that way ever since.

The same went for Robin, she had been a mix of red and white but at the time white was the dominant colour but now she was mostly blue with a hint of white.

"So people can change colours," Robin stated thoughtfully.

"Yep, even people who are red can become blue, and vice versa," Edward agreed "it's rare but I've seen it happen,"

Connor was about to ask something else but Akibi ran up to them, they looked at him curious as to what he wanted.

"Edward Lapuni's picking a fight with Henzo," Akibi claimed.

Edward sighed and stood up, he walked back to the front of the ship to deal with whatever mischief Lapunni had started. Adéwalé, Akibi, Zoro, Robin and Connor followed him; at the front of the ship they saw Usopp trying to talk some sense into Lappuni while Isaoka and Pukau struggled to hold Lapunii back and Longo was helping Henzo who was on lying on the deck from being pushed.

Luffy was nowhere to be seen.

"Oi what's going on here?" Edward demanded.

The fighting stopped and the kids and Usopp all looked over to Edward.

"Henzo got a call from the outside," Longo claimed.

"What? Are you serious?" Edward gasped.

"Yeah he told someone called Philip who was on the other end and told him about an emergency rescue devise to get us out," Isoka claimed.

"So if there's a rescue party coming why is Lapuni fighting?" Adéwalé asked confused.

"Because he's working for Whetton," Lappuni said angrily.

"Whetton?" Edward asked confused "Wasn't he the pirate that burnt your town down?"

"I told you I was only working for him so I could find you," Henzo said.

"Shut it, I knew you couldn't be trusted. If you were really Henzo you wouldn't work for our enemy," Lapuni growled.

"Lappuni, sometimes people do bad things for the right reasons…even if it means hurting those closest to you," Usopp tired.

"No, if your do something that hurts others then your just as bad as all the other scumbags in the world," Lappuni declared.

"You have a very black and white view on life," Robin commented.

"Yeah, I've been trying to get him to change his view for a while now," Edward admitted.

"Hey….Where's Luffy?" Zoro asked noticing his captain was absent.

"He started launching himself back into the mist," Usopp answered.

"Idiot," Zoro sighed.

Edward gave Usopp a confused look.

"Why is he doing that?" he asked.

"Because he thinks it's fun and he's and idiot," Zoro said irritably.

"Why would he…"Edward Started

"LOOK OUT!" Luffy called out as he suddenly reappeared.

Everyone on deck turned to him and he crashed into Edward taking the other Captain with him into the mist.

"Edward!'" Adéwalé and the kids panicked.

"Don't worry, everything in here loops around on itself they'll be back in a few seconds," Robin assured.

Everyone looked to the opposite side of the ship and waited for a few moments but nothing came back.

"Or not," Robin finished.

"We have to find, them," Adéwalé urged.

"No we should stay where we are. Everything in here loops in on itself so we just have to wait for them to come back," Henzo said.

"But there not back," Usopp said.

"If they went to a deeper part of the mist then we have no way of following. But that does not mean they won't eventually come back to where their starting point," Henzo claimed "After all you said there was no way out,"

The straw hats, the kids and Adéwalé waited patiently for Edward and Luffy to come back but they never did, Henzo tried to make contact with Phillip again but had no success. Robin noticed Connor staring at Nami trees and went over to him; he had been like that for a while now.

"Connor everything alright?" Robin asked.

Connor looked up at her and Robin saw his eyes were glowing.

"I'm trying to make the trees glow," He said.

"Oh any luck?"

"No, they won't do it. I don't know how to make them glow," Connor answered and the yellow faded for his eyes.

"Edward said it would take time," Robin reminded him.

"I know….can I ask you something?"

"Of course,"

"Do you… Do you think Luffy and Edward will be okay?" Connor asked worriedly.

"Don't worry I'm sure they're fine," Robin claimed.

"Hey something's approaching," Usopp called out and pointed to a small boat.

The others ran over and looked to where Usopp was pointing and sure enough there was a small row boat approaching with a single figure on it. As it got closer the figure was revealed to be Nami, once she was next to the Merry she claimed on to the deck.

Usopp saw that her boat had bags and chests filled with treasure, it was clear that Nami had made a few stops along the way.

"You just can't help yourself can you," Usopp said.

"What are you taking about?" Nami asked.

"Your boat is filled with treasure, how many ships did you raid before coming here?" Usopp clarified.

"It doesn't matter, what matters is that I'm here now," Nami responded.

"IT DOSE MATTER!" Usopp yelled.

Nami then noticed the kids, Adéwalé and that Luffy was now where to be seen.

"So who are they and where's Luffy?" Nami asked.

Robin and Usopp then explained everting and introduced Nami to Adéwalé and the other children, Nami was surprised that they had been in the mist for 50 years.

"So they've been stuck here and Luffy got himself and one other lost deeper into the mist?" Nami summarised.

"That's pretty much it," Zoro said.

"Typical…oh well nothing we can do. Zoro Usopp start loading up the Merry with all the treasure you can," Nami ordered.

"WHAT!" Zoro and Usopp yelled.

"HEY THAT'S OUR PROPERTY, YOU CAN'T TAKE IT!" Lapunni yelled.

"Actually I can," Nami grinned evilly "You want to get out of this mist right?"

"Of course we do," Isoka answered.

"I have a way out and any treasure we take is my fee for rescuing you and your friends,"

"A fee…really?" Usopp asked disappointingly.

"Of course after all we'll be the ones doing the work and I bet you already fed them so we have to replenish our food supplies as well," Nami explained "A few bags of treasure is a small price to pay for a meal and a lift,"

"Well…." Lappuni hesitated "I suppose when you put it like that,"

"Your evil you know that right," Zoro stated.

Nami hit him on the head leaving a massive bump.

"I'm sorry Zoro I didn't catch that, did you say you wanted me to add extra interest on that loan I gave you?" Nami asked.

Zoro glared at her but said nothing.

"I thought so, now start loading up that tressure," Nami ordered.

Usopp and Zoro began to do as they were told with Zoro grumbling about Nami being a witch. Robin came up to the navigator.

"Nami do you actually have a way out?" she asked.

"Yep," Nami said and held up some rope.

* * *

 _Outside the mist_

The sea was oddly calm, but there were no boats in the bay. The towns' people and Ruluka town militia had gathered to watch the mysterious and rare phenome known as the Rainbow Mist. Most of the town thought it was just a legend and a way for the Mayor to swindle money out of the townsfolk but know they could not help but stare at it.

Out in the bay a small broken and rotted plank of wood was floating on the surface. Suddenly bubbles began to form underneath it and Edward broke the surface of the water with a gasp. He spied the plank of wood and grabbed onto it, Edward then heaved Luffy up and the rubber captain grabbed on to it to keep him afloat.

They both took deep breaths of air although Luffy did not look so good.

"Man you devil fruit users are heavy," Edward claimed.

"I can't help it," Luffy moaned.

"Well hang on mate, the harbors not too far," Edward said and began to kick in the water, pushing the board towards the harbour.

Once back at the shore, Edward pulled Luffy onto some stone steps that led down to the water level and sat down; he was exhausted from the swim.

"I think you weigh more than Ade," Edward joked.

"Thanks," Luffy breathed, getting his strength back.

"No worries," Edward said.

Once both captains got their breaths back Edward stood up and walked up the stairs to the pier, he looked around at the town not recognising it and then spied the Rainbow mist out in the bay.

"So…where are we?" Edward asked.

"Ruluka town," Luffy answered.

Edward eyes widened, this was Lauppnis home, and he looked around but saw no sign of the destruction that the children described it was like it had never happened.

"But…shouldn't it be on fire or at least have evidence of the fire?" Edward asked.

Luffy gave Edward a confused look, he was about to say something when a man in uniform landed in front of them, he looked very dazed and had a red shoe print on his face.

"What happened to him?" Edward asked.

Luffy grinned and ran off in the direction that the man had come from.

"Hey wait for me," Edward said and chased after Luffy.

As Edward ran he kept an eye on his surroundings and Luffy, he did not want to lose the other captain because he had no clue where he was going. Edward and Luffy ran up to a large crowd of men in the same uniform they were in a large circle.

"Alright we've got you now, take them away," a man ordered.

Luffy tried to see what was going on but couldn't, he looked and saw a nearby bench and stood on top of it so he could, Edward joined him. Edwards's eyes went wide at what he saw, there was a blonde man and what looked like a big hairy man monster, in the centre of the crowd.

Luffy suddenly launched himself into the air and punched the solders holding the other two in the centre, they looked up and smiled.

"LUFFY!" Chopper cheered.

"About time," Sanji smirked, he then noticed Edward with the rubber captian.

"SANJI CHOPPER DUCK!" Luffy ordered.

Sanji and Chopper obeyed and Luffy pulled back his leg.

"Gomu-Gomu Whip," he cried.

Luffy swang out his leg and as it stretched it hit all of the surrounding solders carrying them with the leg and throwing them into the sea. Unfortunately several statues and guard houses were destroyed in the process; Luffy's leg bounced back to normal and he landed in front of his friends.

Edward stared at Luffy in surprise; he honestly did not know that he was that strong. After all Edward had beaten him easily back in the mist.

'Was he holding back?' Edward wondered.

"Hi guys, you look terrible," Luffy greeted.

"Your hurt," Chopper freaked out noticing Luffys cuts.

"Yeah but I ate some meat for lunch and now I'm all good," Luffy claimed giving Chopper a thumbs up.

"THAT'S NOT HOW MEDICINE WORKS!" Chopper yelled.

He tackled Luffy to the ground and began to wrap Luffys wounds up in bandages.

"You stole from the kitchen?" Sanji growled dangerously.

"Nah Usopp did, he made lunch. It wasn't as good as yours though," Luffy said completely ignoring Sanji's threat.

"I'll deal with him later," Sanji hissed.

Edward did not know how to react to this, it was quite a shock to see the hairy man monster talk and Luffy let him tackle him and…was he treating his wounds? The other man eyed Edward suspiciously as Edward approached but kept his hands on his cutlasses just encase.

"So who's that?" Sanji asked pointing at Edward.

"He's Edward, I'm going to beat him up and make his dragon part of my crew," Luffy introduced.

"His...Dragon?" Chopper asked not believing what he had just heard.

"Are you still on about that?" Edward asked "It's not going to happen matey,"

"Aww….but I want a dragon on my crew," Luffy whined.

"Then go find your own,"

"We did…but he died," Luffy said.

"You…you found a dragon?" Edward asked in surprise.

"Actually we found a whole nest of them," Sanji clarified.

"I'm sure there is a great story behind that but…who are you?" Edward asked Sanki and Chopper.

"This is Sanji and Chopper, there my Nakama," Luffy introduced.

"So why were those men attacking you?" Edward asked.

"Because the mayor here is a greedy thug and a moron," Sanji sighed "He wants all the treasure in that mist for himself,"

"So where's Nami?" Luffy asked.

"She went into the mist; we were supposed to pull her out but…" Chopper said sadly and held up the other end of the rope; it had been cut.

"But these goons cut the safety line," Sanji said.

"Is this Nami part of your crew two?" Edward asked.

Luffy nodded.

"Alright we should regroup with the rest of your crew," Edward advised "where are they?"

Luffy Sanji and Chopper all pointed to the mist; Edward stared at them as he realised what they were implying.

"Wait…the rest of your crew are in the mist?" Edward asked.

"Yep you've met them," Luffy pointed out.

Edward blinked, apart from Adéwalé, Lappuni and his friends that left the four pirates and the old man; add Nami and that makes eight.

"Hold on your sailing the grand Line with only eight people?" Edward gasped.

"Seven, Henzos not part of my crew," Luffy corrected.

"Do you lot have a death wish?" Edward asked seriously "How have you survived this long?"

"Simple, we're strong," Luffy shrugged.

Edward groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Why would you come out here in the first place?" He asked.

"I'm going to find One Piece," Luffy declared.

"One piece, what's that?" Edward asked confused.

"You don't know about One Piece?" Sanji asked in surprise.

Edward shook his head.

"It's the name of the treasure hidden at the end of the Grand Line and whoever finds it becomes King of the Pirates," Luffy said excitedly.

"You don't say, how much treasure are we talking about?" Edward asked interested.

"It's said that One Piece is worth more than any other treasure in the world," Sanji claimed.

"Sounds interesting, where is it hidden?"

"Well the last Pirate King hid it on an Island called Rafael, he was the only man to ever get there and conquer the Grand Line completely," Sanji answered.

"So if he was the only one to get to this Island, how do you know it or the treasure exists?" Edward asked.

"Because he declared it at his own execution, he said that his treasure was out there and it was up for grabs; all we have to do is find it," Luffy answered.

"Pirates have been flocking here to the grand line ever since," Chopper supplied.

"You know I'd love to hear more about this as it sounds like my kind of adventure, but after we deal with this mess. Where's the mayor now?" Edward asked

Before anyone could answer the ground started to shake, the pirates looked around for the source of the shake and off in the distance the large tower like structure fell towards the sea. The big white tarp blew off revealing the top had a large Pumpkin shaped top, the tower landed in the sea with a large splash.

Much to the pirate's surprise, the tower began to extend all the way out of the bay and directly into the mist.

"Never mind I think I know," Edward said.

"They must be trying to get into the mist," Chopper said urgently.

"Nami-swan is in danger," Sanji panicked.

Suddenly another group of solders appeared and pointed there weapons at Luffy, Edward, Sanji and Chopper.

"Hey you two, you're under arrest by order of the mayor," a solder ordered.

"Luffy you get back to the mist, we'll handle this," Sanji said.

"Right thanks guys," Luffy said and ran off towards the downed tower; Edward followed him.

"Will they be alright?" Edward asked worriedly.

"Don't worry about it, they'll be fine," Luffy assured.

Edward and Luffy continued to run towards the now downed tower they were half way there when Edward stopped and stared at something. Luffy noticed this and ran to see what Edward was looking at.

Edward stared at a stone plinth with a bronze plaque on it; he could not believe what he was seeing.

" _In memory of those who died in the fire of 12-05- 1472"_ (1)

"T…T…This can't be," Edward gasped.

Luffy looked at the plaque and then to Edward.

"A memorial, what about it?"

"No…look at the date…why is this here? that date was only a week ago," Edward claimed.

"What are you talking about that date was 50yrs ago," Luffy claimed.

"But…what's today's date?"

"It's the 21-12-1522" Luffy said.

Edward stared at Luffy for a second and then back at the plaque, so that old man was really Lappuni's friend and Henzo had been telling the truth.

"So…So 50yrs have really passed," Edward said softly.

"What was the date when you entered the mist?" Luffy asked.

"It was 18-05-1472…50yrs ago," Edward said sadly.

'Caroline(2)…your gone and…what did you think when I did not come back?' Edward thought to himself.

"You okay? You're taking this surprisingly well," Luffy observed.

Suddenly solders ran past them and heading towards the tower; Edward shook his head.

"Let's just save the others…then I can freak out later," Edward said determined.

"Right," Luffy agreed and the two dashed towards the tower.

* * *

 _ **(1) This the official year date for One Piece, Luffy began his journey in 1522 and continued in 1524. Thank you to** **Gammaman for providing this infomation.**_ _ **The days and months are random dates I picked except for 21-12 as that is the day and month this chapter was posted.**_

 _ **(2) For those of you unfamiliar with Assassins Creed, Caroline was the name of Edwards's first wife he left her to become a privateer. It was only years later when he asked the Assassins to deliver a message to her that Edward learned his wife had died and left behind a daughter as well in his absence.**_


	31. Rainbow Mist Pt 7

_**A.n I own Nothing.**_

 _ **Happy Christmas to everyone. I am so glad that everyone stuck with me this year so thank you all. Sadly this will be the last Chapter up for 2016, I will be back next year with more Straw Hats Creed. As I said at the end of Last year if you have any suggestions on how i can improve the story or you want to see a certain Assassin make an appearance please do not hesitate to let me know.**_

 _ **I will be away on holiday for a few weeks in January so I will not be posting until I get back near the end of the 1st month. So until then Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.**_

* * *

Edward and Luffy approached the entrance to the downed tower, there was a steadily growing pile of treasure just past the entrance and two guards guarding the entrance. Edward ran up to them and waved his hand in front of their necks. Blood poured out of their throats and they fell down dead. Luffy came up and stared at the bodies.

"How did you do that?" Luffy asked Edward.

Edward gave his wrist a flick and a small blade extended out of his wrist brace, he it held up so Luffy could get a look at it.

"Hidden wrist blade," Edward smirked.

"That's….SO COOL!" Luffy shouted his eyes turning to stars.

"It is very useful," Edward agreed.

"I want one where did you get it?" Luffy asked.

"They were a gift,"(1)

"They?"

Edward held up his other wrist and gave it a flick a second hidden blade came out.

"They came in a pair," Edward smiled.

"Give me one," Luffy demanded.

"What No!"

"Why not, you have two so give me one," Luffy whined.

"Luffy I am not giving you my Hidden blades," Edward said, he flicked his wrists again and the blades went back into the braces.

"PPPllleeeaaassseeeee," Luffy begged.

"No, besides I think Kid would literally kill me if I gave them to a pirate," Edward claimed.

"Who's Kid?" Luffy asked.

"James Kid, he's a friend of mine. He's the one who…" Edward hesitated for a second and Luffy waited.

Edward did not want to put his friend in danger but as 50yrs had past Kidd would likely be dead or retired somewhere…most likely the first.

"…who told me that my sight could evolve," Edward finished.

"Oh so dose this Kid guy have the same sight as you and Connor?" Luffy asked.

"No he doesn't possess it…but he did know all about it," Edward admitted.

Luffy nodded, he still wanted the braces but he figured that he could get his own or find some for himself; right now Luffy had more to worry about than some fancy weapon.

Edward turned his attention to the tower and the entered; a conveyor belt that carried piles and piles of treasure towards them was active. A nearby guard came over and pointed his weapon at them.

"You what are you dining here?" the guard demanded.

Luffy stretched over and grabbed him by the collar of his uniform and pulled him close to his face.

"What's going on? Why are you stealing Lappuni's treasure?" Luffy demanded.

"Who?" the guard asked.

Luffy got angry and was about to punch the man when he screamed.

"I don't know who you're talking about! Mayor Wetton ordered the treasure to be loaded onto the conveyor belt so we could get it out of the mist," the guard cried.

"So that's it," Edward said.

"What?" Luffy asked.

"These guys are using this tower as a tunnel, as long as it's here they don't have to worry about getting lost in Apies," Edward claimed.

"So if we follow this tunnel we'll get back to the others?" Luffy asked.

"Most defiantly," Edward agreed.

"I wouldn't get your hopes up, most of the towns militia is already in the mist and the Mayor and his sons are there two. Anyone in the mist is dead," the guard claimed.

Edward and Luffy looked at each other for a second before looking back at the guard; big grins appeared on their faces.

"Matey, you have no idea who your messing with," Edward claimed.

Luffy tossed the guard aside and ran back outside the tower confusing Edward.

"Uhhh the mist is that way," Edward said pointing into the tunnel.

"I know but I want to get back to my crew as soon as possible," Luffy said.

"Me too, then shouldn't we get going," Edward urged.

"Nah I have a faster way," Luffy grinned.

Edward wondered what Luffy meant and watched the other captain stretch his arms and grab the sides of the tower, he then pulled back and his arms stretched further.

'He looks like a living slingshot,' Edward joked to himself.

And then he saw Luffys big grin. Edwards face fell and he quickly looked behind him and then back to Luffy now realising what was about to happen.

"Oh no…No No No No," Edward said.

"Gomou-Gomou Rocket," Luffy cried and jumped off the ground.

He was shot forward and Edward was unfortunately in his way so he was brought along for the ride. They flew at amazing speed straight through the tower, over the guards who were overseeing the conveyor belt and the treasure on it. They were very surprised to see two men flying through the air, Edward screamed the entire way while Luffy just laughed.

* * *

 _Apes Concert_

Not long after Edward and Luffy had disappeared the top end of the tower had appeared in the mist and solders started to come out of it on inflatable rafts.

They quickly began raiding the shipwrecks for the hidden treasure and attacked the Merry. Usopp, Robin, Zoro and Connor did an impressive job of guarding the ship and protecting the other kids. Lappuni had wanted to fight as well but after it was made clear that these invaders were intending to kill them he let the pirates handle it.

Adéwalé had transformed into his dragon form and begun an Ariel assault on the invaders and it was working until the Wetton and Phillip had appeared in metal suits that shot fire and electricity.

Zoro charged in to take on the one with electricity and Adéwalé went for Wetton. He had innately planed on using his dragon form but that made him to big of a target and increased the risk of getting lost in the mist.

So he switched to his hybrid form instead to give him more manoeuvrability, Adéwalé had instantly me with a stream of fire from Wetton but he blocked it by using his wings as a shield and thanks to the thin layer of scales that covered his body his hybrid form(2) he did not feel the heat or take any damage. Adéwalé hovered in the air over Wetton, in his hybrid form; he glared at the invading mayor.

Before the Wetton could attack again something crashed into the back of his suit knocking him down the ramp and stopping just before the water.

"Whoo that was fun," Luffy said sitting on the ramp, Edward was lying not far away dazed from the flight and landing.

"Who dares knock me over?" Wheton demanded as some solders helped him up.

Edward sat up rubbing his head, glared at Luffy.

"What the hell was that?!" he yelled at Luffy.

"A short cut," Luffy answered.

"Are you trying to get us killed?!"

"Why are you angary? We're back in the mist," Luffy pointed out.

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!" Edward yelled back.

Adéwalé shook his head as he watched the two pirates argue completely ignoring everyone and everything around him.

"HEY DON'T IGNORE ME!" Wetton yelled angrily.

Luffy and Edward stopped arguing and looked at the mayor.

"Who's this Darn o cachu?(3)" Edward asked.

"Huh?" Luffy asked confused.

"How dare you ignore me and speak in a language that I don't understand. You must pay the not paying attention and speaking in a different language Tax of 50,000 beli," Wetton demanded.

"No," Luffy said.

"Is this guy a retard or something?" Edward asked.

"How dare you, if you don't pay you'll…you'll…" Wetton trailed off and he stared at Edward.

Edward and Luffy waited for Wetton to continue but he just studied Edwards face, he had a suspicion that he had seen the pirate somewhere before.

"You look familiar have we met before?" Wetton asked Edward.

"I'm sure I would remember you," Edward said "But then again I tend to forget stuff after drinking,"

Edward looked up and saw Adéwalé in his hybrid form hovering above them.

"Ade have we met this guy before?" Edward called out.

"No Edward we haven't," Adéwalé answered.

"Well there's your answer," said to Wetton.

Wettons face instantly paled as he finally recognised the name.

"Edward…y…y…your name is Edward? Is that…Edward Kenway?" Wetton asked fearfully.

"Aye that's me," Edward confirmed.

"Y…Y…You can't be here…Your dead," Wetton claimed.

Edward quickly took his pulse.

"Nope defiantly still alive," Edward claimed.

"Well in that case you must pay the coming back from the dead Tax," Wetton demanded.

Edward honestly did not know how to react to this so he did the only thing he could think off.

"I'm going to start attacking you know and I don't know when I'll stop," Edward claimed and charged in.

* * *

 _On the Merry,_

Zoro was fighting Phillip in his Electricity suit, it wasn't going well as Zoro's swords would conduct and draw the Electricity to him making it a hard fight. Usopp and robin were picking off the invading Militia; Robin used her powers and Usopp used his slingshot.

Connor would swiftly defeat anyone who boarded the ship, Nami cheered in the background. Zoro was having a hard time with Philip as it was near impossible to land a hit on the suit without getting shocked.

"Wa Ha Ha Ha. You can't beat me, this suit is constantly generating Electricity," Phillip claimed.

"Then I'll just cut through your Electricity," Zoro declared.

"It doesn't work like that," Usopp and Nami said at the same time.

"Actually that's not a bad idea," Robin said.

Usopp and Nami looked at her in surprise and then back to Zoro and Phillip.

"Rolling Thunder," Philp said.

Everyone waited for something to happen but noting did.

"Huh…where's my lightning?" Philip asked.

"I cut it," Robin answered with a smile.

Phillip turned to see the cords that connected the suit to its generator was severed by two arms that seemed to be growing out of the generator itself.

"Noooo, Put that back Put that back," Phillip cried.

Philip started throwing a tantrum and he was failing around so much that he fell into the sea and began to sink.

"Help I'm sinking Heellllpppppp!" he cried out as a few solders dove into save him.

"These guys are idiots," Zoro commented and sheathed his sword.

"Yeah kick they're asses, don't let them near my treasure," Nami cheered.

The other kids looked at her.

"It's our treasure," they said together but Nami ignored them.

Suddenly a large explosion came from the tower; it broke apart, crumbled and destroyed. Adéwalé was pushed back by the wind and he franticly scanned the sea and the remains of the tower for Edward and Luffy.

Edward broke the surface carrying Luffy and he swam to the boats, Adéwalé landed and helped pull the two captains onto the rafts.

"What happened?" Adéwalé asked.

"Wetton could not handle losing so he blew his fire suit up," Edward explained "and he took the tower with him so we're no longer connected to the outside,"

"Damn it," Zoro hissed.

"What? Wetton was here and you let him get away?" Lapunni accused angrily.

"Not the time Lapunni," Edward warned.

Apes concert started to shake and the sky started to crackle with Lighting, the inhabitants looked up to see the sky start to swirl.

"What's happening?" Philp panicked.

"What are you still doing here?" Usopp asked.

"Farther just blew up the only way out of the mist…what do you think we're still doing here," Phillip shot back.

"The mist…it's destabilising," Henzo theorised.

"Meaning?" Isoka asked.

"The environment of the Rainbow mist must be very delicate, after all it distorts time. If something were to upset that balance then it would cause the mist to collapse," Henzo said.

"But we're still inside it," Nami panicked.

"We need to get out or we will be killed," Henzo said.

"How this place is a maze,"Usopp claimed.

"If the mist is destabilising then the border between Apes concert and the outside will have weekend significantly, we just might be able to find the exit," Henzo claimed.

"Everyone on board now, Usopp find us a way out," Nami ordered.

Edward, Zoro, Luffy, Adéwalé, Phillip and the remaining militia climbed onto the Merry; Usopp began scanning the horizon with his goggles looking for the exit.

"There," He cried and pointed to a rainbow swirl hovering in the air.

"It looks like the entrance," Robin observed.

"I can see sunlight," Usopp claimed "It has to be the way out,"

"Get the oars and everyone start rowing," Nami ordered.

Comically large oars were brought out and everyone started rowing towards the exit but it started to fade and it became clear that they were not going to make it.

"We're not going to make it," Akibi panicked.

"Do you think we will be cursed, disintegrated or just cease to exist?" Robin asked with a straight face.

"DON'T SAY SUCH THINGS!" Usopp yelled.

"If only we had a strong blast of wind," Nami said.

Adéwalé suddenly let go of his oar, he shifted into his hybrid form and headed back towards the warship that had been used as a base.

"Ade, where are you going?" Edward panicked.

"To blow up the gunpowder reverses," Adéwalé answered "It will give you the boost you need to escape,"

"But you'll be trapped…You'll die," Edward claimed.

"No I will shift into my dragon form and survive the explosion. I don't care what happens," Adéwalé claimed and landed on the ship.

"Damn it, Ade," Edward swore and jumped into the sea, he swam back to the ship.

"Edward!" Lappuni called after him but Edward had disappeared into the ship.

Lappuni jumped into the water and followed Edward. Isoka, Akibi, Longo and Pukau followed him and swam towards the ship as well.

"What are you doing?" Henzo cried out.

"We have to help Adéwalé and Edward," Lauppui declared.

"But..But…" Henzo started.

"It's alright Henzo, we'll come back," Isoka assured.

"Yeah now that we know your waiting for us, we'll defiantly come back," Lappuni promised.

Hezo couldn't respond he started to tear up as his fends disappeared into the wreaked warship.

* * *

 _The gunpowder storage of the warship_

Adéwalé piled barrels of gunpowder together, he took a step back and was about to light them when a hand gripped his shoulder. Adéwalé turned to see Edward standing there with a smile on his face.

"Edward…what?" Adéwalé asked.

"You know the rules Ade. A captain always goes down with the ship," Edward claimed.

"And a good crew always follows their captain," Lappuni interrupted.

Edward and Adéwalé turned to see Lappuni and the others standing there.

"You're all insane," Adéwalé sighed and he lit the fuse.

* * *

 _Outside the mist_

Sanji and Chopper were watching the portal into the mist carefully, it had slowly begun to fade and they were worried about their crew. Wetton had come out of the tower earlier, Sanji and Chopper were not happy that he had come out alone; they had been watching the mist ever since and completely faded.

"Sanji the mist…it's gone," Chopper said.

"Damn…they didn't make it," Sanji hissed.

"That's right those brats are dead, they could not stop me there is no limit to my power," Wetton declared.

Sanji and chopper took a threatening step towards the elderly mayor, Wettons face paled as he noticed something behind them.

"What's that?" he cried and pointed to the top of the hill.

Sanji and Chopper turned to see the mist had appeared above the hill and the Merry came fliyng out of it. The ship flew over the town and landed with a splash in the bay, the mast and figurehead broke off.

"AHHHHH MERRRRRRYYYYYY!" Chopper screamed when he saw the damage.

"They made it," Sanji breathe a sigh of relief.

"NNNNNOOOOOOO!" Wetton screamed.

Sanji and Chopper looked back towards the sky and saw a large mansion get sucked into the mist and belis fell from the sky.

"My Mansion,"Wetton cried.

"Serves you right," Chopper said flatly.

The Merry staggered to the docks curtesy of the oars and everyone disembarked. Usopp was in tears over the damage and Sanji rushed up to Nami.

"Nami-Swan, your back," he cried happily.

Nami however hit Sanji on the head so hard that he crashed on the ground making a small creator and Nami stormed off. Chopper panicked and stared at Nami in fear.

"Wh'ts fith der?(What's with Her?)" Sanji struggled to say.

Connor walked over to him and bent down.

"All of the treasure got blown off the ship, I'd keep out of her way for now," Connor advised softly.

Suddenly a cannon was fired, Connor froze up and the others turned to see a Marine warship just behind them. A Marine Major walked up to them, he was an older looking man with blond hair and dark sunglasses, and he wore a Marie officers coat befitting his rank.

Behind him was an older woman with neck length light purple hair, she had a droopy face and wore a Marine uniform of a Lieutenant. There were three other marines behind here all wearing a stranded Marine uninforms and all of them had smiles on their faces.

"Marines!" the straw hats panicked.

Phillip ran up to the Major.

"Thank goodness you're here, these pirates attacked and are trying to steal the town's lively hood," Phillip lied.

The major looked at the straw hats and then back at Phillip, he grabbed the his hand and examined the ring on Philips finger.

"The Ring of Queen Illiua, this ring was stolen over one hundred years ago, where did you get it?" the major demanded.

"Huh…I found it in the rainbow mist," Phillip claimed.

"The Rainbow Mist?" the Major asked sceptically.

"Yes there were hundreds of shipwrecks filled with treasure," Philip claimed.

"You expect me to believe that?" the major asked.

"Sir, we have found a large pile of treasure at the other end of the port. Some apperes to be over 100 years old," the Lieutenant reported with a salute.

"Hey that's mine," Wetton claimed.

"Oh and where did you get it?" the Major asked.

"Like my son said I took it from the Rainbow Mist," Wetton claimed.

"So you got that ring and the treasure from shipwrecks then?" the Major asked.

"Of course, I found it so that makes it mine," Wetton claimed.

"Unfortunately all treasures rediscovered on shipwrecks go to the to the world government so we may sort through it thoroughly and returned any and all national treasures to their rightful countries," the major said.

"What I won't let you have my treasure," Wetton declared.

"If you continue this course of action I will have to take it as an act of Piracy," the major warned.

"That's fine by me, I used to be a pirate anyway," Wetton claimed.

"Very well…I will treat you as such," the Major said.

He walked up to Wetton raised his hand and flicked his forehead; Wetton was thrown backwards crashing into one of the guards towers.

"Father!" Phillip panicked.

"Oh you are his son?" the Major asked.

"So what?" Phillip asked.

"If you have a relative that is a pirate you are also herby considered a criminal," the Major claimed.

"WHAT! BUT I HAVE NOT DONE ANYTHING!" Phillip claimed.

"Well you did help your father and the militia oppress and kidnap the townsfolk for 35yrs," Henzo claimed.

"I see...so you are a criminal as well," the major claimed.

"What No! I had the authority of the mayor" Phillip said.

"A former pirate cannot become a elected official let alone a Mayor. You have been acting under the authority of a pirate therefore you are one," the Major claimed "Arrest Wetton, his son and his men for acts of piracy,"

The straw hats and Henzo watched as Wetton and his men were arrested and led to the Mairne ships, the Marines then loaded up the treasure before they came back and approached the Henzo; the major took of his sunglasses and smiled.

"Didn't I promise we'd be back," He smiled.

Henzo stared at the Major carefully; his eyes went wide as he recognised him.

"L…L…Lapuni?" Henzo gaped.

"Yep it's me," Lusspuni answered.

"HUH!" the straw hats who had been in the mist yelled together in shock.

"But if you're here then that means…" Henzo started and looked at the Marines behind Lappuni "Your…Your…Isoka, Akibi, Pukau and Longo,"

"Yep it's us," Isoka confirmed.

"Guys…" Henzo said and started to cry.

He pulled Lappuini into a hug and cried into his friend, Lappuni returned the hug and let his old friend cry on him; they remind that way for a few minutes. The straw hats smiled and moved closer knowing that these marines were not their enemies.

"Excuse me but how did you get out of the mist?" Robin asked.

"When we blew up the ship we were ejected from the mist as well, but it was 50yrs ago," Lappuni explained.

"Of course, the mist must've returned everyone to their proper time," Henzo said.

"Well we were a week out but yes it did. We wound up on a nearby Island" Isoka claimed.

"Edward and Adéwalé's ship was nearby so he took us to the next Island. We knew that Ruluka would survive Wettons first attack but we could not let him get away with it. So we decided to join the marines,"

"Why?" Henzo asked.

"With Wetton as mayor we could not touch him so we needed the power to overrule him, the Marines can overthrow any government official if that offiacl is caught doing criminal activates," Isoka claimed.

"But how did you join? Wouldn't your ties with Edward make you unable to join?" Usopp asked.

"Well he staged a fake kidnapping and when we were rescued we told the Marines that pirates had burnt down our town and we had nowhere to go. So they sighed us on as chore boys and girl," Lappuni

"You lied to the Marines?" Zoro asked.

"No, our town was attacked by pirates and they did set it on fire," Isoka smiled "We just neglected to mention that it would be rebuilt,"

"So you came back here knowing that Wetton would screw up his mayor act and catch him," Robin finished "Clever,"

"Thank you, but unfortunately I have to arrest the Straw hat Pirates as well," Lappuni announced.

"WHATTT!" the straw hats cried.

"You big bully and after we fed you too," Usoop yelled from hiding behind Zoro.

"But…Ahh we just don't have the room," Lappuni cried.

"Between Wetton, his men and the treasure, our ship is full. Not to mention I have to make a report and deliver them to the closet Marine base which is two days away that means the straw hats will have a four day head start and who knows which way they will go," Lappuni ranted.

"Oh well I guess we'll just have to take our chances and hope that they're still here when we get back," Isoka sighed.

"Your right…there is nothing we can do," Lappuni agreed "Everyone back on the ship and you lot had better be here when we get back,"

The Marines turned and headed to their ship, Connor who had recovered from being momentary frozen ran up to Laapuni and tugged his uniform; the Marine looked down at him.

"He did that on purpose," the straw hats said together.

"Umm….what happened to Edward after you parted ways?" Connor asked.

"Oh well, he continued his pirating ways for a few years and then got married," Lappuni answered.

"He got married?" Connor asked in surprise.

"Yes we were very surprised to get the invitation to his wedding. Apparently he was pardoned for his crimes as a pirate and settled down,"

"So…is he still alive now?"

"No, he disappeared 30 years ago," Isoka answered.

"What?" Connor gasped.

"We kept in contact after his wedding but one day we stopped hearing form him. We went to his house to find his wife dead and his two children missing, though we did find his youngest son," Lappuni explained.

"According to him Edward went out to sea on some business with Adéwalé and never came back…it was right before his wife was killed," Isoka claimed.

"So he could still be out there somewhere," Connor said hopefully.

"I doubt it, we looked for him but no one ever saw or herd form him again. It's more than likely he died at sea," Lappuni reasoned.

"Oh..." Connor said and looked down sadly.

"We should go, we'll be back in a few days take care Henzo," Lappuni said and boarded his ship.

The straw hats watched as the marine ship sailed off out to sea. The next two days the straw hats spent the day repairing the Merry, the treasure Connor had pocketed was more than enough to pay for some quick repairs, it wasn't much but it would hold until the next Island so they could get a proper job done.

Nami was thrilled that Connor had saved some treasure and what wasn't spent on the ship repairs was spent on restocking the Merry's supplies and Robin also found some early learning activity books basic reading books and a chalk board. Robin was pleased with her find as she was able to get everything she needed to start teaching Connor.

Usopp had also spoken to Sanji and he agreed to teach Connor how to cook, Connor was not thrilled about it but Sanji was insistent that the boy learn some basic cooking.

On the third day the Merry set off from Ruluka town with Henzo watching them leave.

"Thank you my friends," he said as the Merry sailed out of sight.

* * *

 _Island in the Grand Line, 50 years ago_

The Jackdaw sailed into port to resupply, Edward was eager to get off the ship and hit up a local bar while the rest of his crew traded in the various Rum and Sugar that they had plundered form other ships.

Edward and Adéwalé walked down the street and Adéwalé was being overly cautious.

"Ade relax I'm just going for a drink," Edward assured.

"Edward you know whose ship that was docked right?" Adéwalé asked.

"Of course, that's why I want a drink," Edward smiled.

Adéwalé sighed; he knew this was not going to end well.

They found the local bar and entered, it was packed with people though most of them were pirates. Edward scanned the room and spotted who he was looking for, he walked over to a gentleman sitting at the bar.

He was a tall man with thick black hair. He wore a blue shirt and had a green sash around his waist, a white cravat around his neck, dark blue pants, and what appeared to be black sea boots and a very familiar straw hat.

Edward walked over and sat next to the man ordering a drink.

"Haven't seen you in a while, what have you been up to?" the man asked.

"Oh not much, just having an adventure in a time traveling mist," Edward responded.

"Ah business as usual then,"

"Aye…so I heard this amazing story about a Pirate King who hid his treasure at the end of the Grand Line," Edward claimed.

"Really?" the man asked curiously.

"Yeah it's on an Island called Raftel and it's up for grabs, the person who finds it will be the next Pirate King," Edward claimed.

"Raftel huh…never heard of it," the man responded.

"Me either, so how about Gol. D Rodger(4)…want to race to see who can become King first?" Edward asked.

The man turned to Edward and a fierce grin he appeared on his face.

"You're on," Rodger answered "What's the name of this fabled treasure?"

"One Piece," Edward grinned.

* * *

 _ **(1) Edwards Hidden Blades were given to him by the Templar Gist, who mistook him for an Assassin traitor he was supposed to meet. Gist later went on to become Shay Cormarcs most trusted friend and introduced him to Haythem thus setting young Shay on the path of the Templars.**_

 _ **(2) Adéwalé's hybrid form offers him flight and increased strength; it also gives him a very thin layer of dragon scales making him resistant to all damage. The best way to describe it is it's like Adéwalé is wearing Bilbo's Mithril shirt under his skin. Though it can be priced with Seastone**_

 _ **(3) Translates to Piece of Shit in welsh. Edward was born and raised in Wales.**_

 _ **(4) Before anybody PMs me about putting Rodger in this arc and the inaccuracy of him being alive at this time. I would like to point out Rodger was born 77 years before the present day (post time skip) and was executed 22 years before the story began.**_

 _ **This means he was alive for 53 years before he was killed, and as it took him 2 years to find Raftel and hide One Piece this means that at the time Lapunni and his friends escaped from the Rainbow mist Rodger was 51 years old. This makes it perfectly viable for him to be alive at the time.**_


	32. Jaya Pt 1

_**A.n I own Nothing.**_

 _ **Hello World, i'm back for another year, I hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Year. Thanks for being patent with me over the holiday season, I have had a good break and am ready to go. I actually finished writing/editing the Jaya arc so expect a regular weekly update for the next three-four weeks.**_

 _ **As it is a New Year i would very much appreciate any feedback you have on the story so far, if you have any suggestions on how it could be improved, Devil Fruit ideas or even wanting to see a cretin Assassin please let me know. Any and all feed back will be taken seriously and be considered in writing future chapters.**_

 _ **As always please Review.**_

 _ **Enjoy.**_

* * *

It was a sunny day out at sea and the Going Merry sailed through the waters of the Grand Line with ease. The Ship looked a little worse for wear but after being literally blown out of a time altering mist that was to be expected.

The Merry had left Rulkla Island a few days ago, after the Marines had left Henzo had helped repair the ship with Usopp and a local carpenter, it was not the best fix but the Merry would not sink and the carpenter assured the pirates that the repairs would hold until the next Island where the ship could be properly repaired.

Usopp was telling the others what had happened in the mist for the 8th time as Chopper seemed to love the story…Connor also listened in but he did not recall seeing a Sea King or vanquishing an evil robot.

"That mist was fun, I hope we go back sometime," Luffy said.

"Go back; you want to go back to a ships graveyard with no way out?" Nami asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah after all Edward and Adéwalé live there," Luffy grinned.

Nami sighed, Edward did not live in the mist but she knew there was no point on telling Luffy that or trying to explain how the mist bent time.

Robin approached Connor.

"Connor can you help me for a little while?" Robin asked with a smile.

Connor nodded, this was Robin's way of telling him it was time for his reading lesson. Robin had offered to teach Connor how to read not long before the straw hats adventure in the Rainbow mist. At first he was reluctant to accept and fearful of what Luffy would do if he found out, but Robin had assured him that it would be they're secret. So every day Robin would ask Connor for some help and they would go to the cabin to start the lesson.

Luffy was sitting on the Merry's figure head looking eagerly out to sea he glanced at Robin as she and Connor walked towards the cabin. Luffy of course knew exactly what Robin and Connor were doing but he also knew that Connor would be worried about being caught so he and the others agreed to play dumb until Connor was ready to tell them.

Suddenly small amounts of dirt and stones began to rain down on the deck, all the straw hats including Connor and Robin stopped what they were dong to look up at the sky.

"That's odd, it shouldn't be raining," Nami said.

"Maybe it's hail," Usopp suggested.

"No it doesn't look like it," Sanji observed.

He held out his hand and let little bits land in it before looking at what he caught, it looked like small pieces of wood.

"Is this…wood?" Sanji asked a little confused.

"Look out!" Chopper cried.

The straw hats eyes widened as the small splinters turned into huge chunks of what looked like came from a ship, pieces of Mast, a cannon, and debris rained down from the sky…there was even a steering wheel. Nami ordered the Merry to be moved but with the amount of debris falling the waves were becoming rough and the helm unusable.

The straw hats did their best to keep the Merry afloat, Chopper and Usopp panicked. Usopp got into a mediative positon which Chopper copied.

"What are you doing?" Connor asked.

"I'd you meditate all your fears will go away," Usopp answered.

Connor looked at Usopp like the sniper had lost it.

"Now take a deep breath and slowly open your eyes," Usopp instructed.

He followed his own advice but when he opened his eyes an open coffin with a skeleton was in front of him and it landed on him while the coffin landed on top of Chopper.

"AAAGGGGGHHHHHHH SKELITON!" Usopp screamed in pure horror and threw the corpse at Nami.

"DON'T THROW IT OVER HERE!" she cried and threw it back.

As debris continued to fall Usopp and Nami played hot potato with a corpse as nether one of them wanted the bones near them. Finally the debris stopped falling and a huge ship splashed into the sea next to the Merry. Once everyone expect Usopp and Chopper had calmed down the crew gathered together.

"Why did a ship fall out of the sky?" Luffy asked.

"Good question," Zoro answered and looked up "There's nothing but clouds up there,"

"It's a total mystery," Sanji claimed.

"Man the Grand Line sure is scary, first time altering mists and now ships fall from the sky," Usopp said shaking in fear and holing Choppers hybrid form.

"Yeah what's next? Ghost ships with living skeletons?" Chopper agreed, he was also shaking in fear.

"That would so cool," Luffy said excitedly.

"Chopper don't encourage him," Nami scolded.

She then looked down at the Log Pose to get the ship back on course but found that it had changed direction.

"OH NO!" Nami panicked.

"What is it….another ship?" Usopp panicked.

"The Log…it's broken," Nami claimed.

"Let me see," Robin said coming over and Robin showed her the compass.

Robin saw the needle was pointing upwards and tapping lightly against the glass that it was kept in. the archaeologist eyes narrowed and she looked up towards the sky in contemplation.

"I don't think the Log is broken," Robin said.

"But it has to be, it was pointing South West about two minutes ago," Nami claimed.

"Nami it is physically impossible for a log pose to break unless it's cursed or the glass get destroyed," Robin stated.

"Why?" Connor asked.

"Because it locks onto an Islands magnetic felid, if the log changes direction in the middle of the ocean it mean it has found a stronger magnetic field then the one it first locked onto," Robin claimed.

"But it's pointing upwards," Nami pointed out.

"Indeed, that means there is an Island in the sky…a Sky Island," Robin said.

"WHAT…A SKY ISLAND?!" the whole crew cried out in surprise.

"So what's a sky Island like?" Luffy asked eagerly with stars in his eyes.

"I've herd legends of them, they say that the sky islands float on their own sea of clouds and are always on the move as the seas and the Island travel on the wind," Robin said.

"REALLY?!" Luffy, Usopp, Chopper and Connor asked at the same time. They were clearly interested and wanted to go to this sky Island.

"Yes, but I've never been to one myself. The truth is I don't know much about them expect what I've read in myths," Robin claimed.

"Robin there can't be a sea or Islands in the sky," Nami said "It's just impossible,"

"There are many strange and impossible things on the Grand Line but there is one thing that has never changed…the Log Pose is never wrong. Wherever it points you will always find an Island," Robin said seriously.

"But a whole ocean in the sky…that sounds like something out of a kids book or a comic," Nami tried.

"Then why is the Log pointing upwards? You should not be asking these questions miss navigator. There is only one question you should be asking.

"And what's that?" Nami asked.

"How do we get to the Sky Island?" Robin answered.

Nami looked at the Log and pondered what Robin was saying, she then noticed that it was quite and looked around to find Luffy was not on deck.

"Where did Luffy go?" Nami asked.

"He's over there," Connor said form the starboard railing and pointed at the ship that fell from the sky.

Luffy was indeed on the wreckage of the ship.

"What's that idiot doing?" Sanji asked annoyed.

"He said he was board so he was going to explore," Connor answered.

"He does know that the ship will sink right?" Zoro asked.

A few seconds later and the ship was beneath the waves, Luffy could be seen struggling in the ocean.

"HHHEEELLLLPPPPP!" Luffy cried out as he sank into the sea.

"Idiot," the whole crew said in unison, Sanji jumped into save Luffy.

Once Luffy was safely back on the Merry's deck and out of the water, he looked up at his crew with a big grin.

"I did it…Look what I found," Luffy declared.

He held up a old map that depicted an Island floating on some clouds, the word Sky Piea was written on the top.

"Is that…" Robin asked in surprise.

"Yep a map if the Sky Island," Luffy said happily.

Nami took the map and examined, Luffy stood next to her very excited.

"See, see it does exist, this map is proof," Luffy bragged.

Nami looked at the map carefully, she was looking for signs that it could be a fake but was having a hard time finding any; she refused to believe that there was a sea in the sky.

Luffy Usopp and Chopper started dancing around on deck.

"We found a sky Island, We found a sky island," the cheered happily.

"The map could be a fake," Nami pointed out.

The three pirates stopped cheering and their faces tuned gloomy as they looked at Nami.

"What?" they asked.

Nami felt bad for ruining their good time.

"I mean…well…it exists, of course the Sky Island exists," Nami said quickly.

"Then let's set sail, Nami take us to the Sky Island," Luffy ordered.

"And how do you propose we do that?" Nami asked.

"I don't know, take us to the sky or something," Luffy answered.

Nami banged her fist against the Merrys mast in irritation.

"Luffy I can't do that I don't know how to get there," Nami said angrily.

"Well figure it out, you the Navigator," Luffy shot back.

"Yes and I can't make the ship fly,"

"I'm the Captain and I say we go to the Sky Island," Luffy declared.

Nami hit Luffy on the head for his stupidity and he was left twitching on the deck, the other members of the crew ignored him as Nami addressed the rest of the crew.

"Look it doesn't matter if the Sky Island exists or not…" Nami started.

"Yes it dose!" Luffy interrupted which earned him another hit on the head from Nami.

"What matters is we can't stay here, the log won't point to a new Island. So if that ship did fall from the sky then there has to be a way for us to get up there," Nami continued.

"But how?" Connor asked.

"Well…Oh I know we need information. That ship is bound to have some record or log of how it got into the sky. We'll salvage it," Nami declared.

"Salvage what's that?" Chopper asked.

"It's a what you do to sunken ships, once salvaged you can examine the ship properly and take any tressure it might have," Robin answered "But that ship is too big for us to salvage,"

"We don't need the whole ship, just a few records like a journal or the ships log," Nami reasoned.

"But it's at the bottom of the Grand Line, how are we going to get down there?" Zoro asked.

"Yeah it's not like we can breathe underwater," Sanji added.

The crew remained silent for a second as they thought about the problem at hand. It was Usopp who broke the silence.

"Actually…I think I know a way we can," Usopp said with a grin.

It did not take long for Usopp to build three diving suits out of some empty barrels and attached t to a homemade air filter. The sniper stood back to admire his work on the three volunteers who would be going down to the ship.

"Done whit this you should be fine," Usopp claimed.

"Ohhh this is exiting," Luffy said.

"Nami-Swan I'll bring back all information on the Sky Island," Sanji said with hearts coming out of his suit.

"Why am I here with these idiots?" Zoro asked from inside his suit.

"Usopp will this really work?" Nami asked.

"Yep, it runs along the same theory as diving bells," Usopp claimed.

"What's a diving bell?" Connor asked.

"It's a big heavy metal bell, you drop it in the water and it sinks. It creates an air pocket underwater that you can use to breathe while under water and in deep pressure," Robin explained.

"So how is this like that?" Chopper asked.

"Well when they go into the water, we pump the air down. The incoming air will keep the water pushed out so even Luffy will be alright, the bottoms are left open so that they can move and swim around underwater," Usopp explained.

Connor and Chopper nodded in understanding.

"It is rather impressive that you know about Diving bells," Robin complemented.

"Well I played Pirate a lot as a kid and I also read a few books on them as well, Pirates diving for treasure was always one of my favourite stories and games to play," Usopp claimed.

"Right Lets go," Luffy said and jumped into the sea; Zoro and Sanji followed him.

"They'll be okay down there right?" Chopper asked concerned.

"Well let's see, we can use the air tubes to communicate with them," Usopp said.

"Really?" Chopper asked.

Usopp nodded and chopper switched to his human form and went over to the air tubes.

"Luffy can you hear me?" Chopper called down the tube.

"Yep, it's really cool down here," Luffys voice responded.

"There's a whole nest of giant sea snakes down here," Zoro's voice came through.

"Oh they noticed us…and are coming right for us," Sanji voice added.

"Okay," Nami nodded satisfied.

"HOW IS THAT OKAY?!" Usopp panicked.

They waited patiently by the air filter and Usopp pumped the air into the make shift diving suits, it wasn't long before the remaining members of the straw hats heard a whistle and some cymbals being hit together. Robin looked over the railing and saw another ship approach it was larger than the Merry it had a monkey striking two cymbals figurehead, rows of palm trees going along the sides of the deck and two banana-shaped poles; Also on the sails was : a monkey's head with two bananas Jolly Roger.

On board the crew could be seen along with the oddest looking man with ape-like features. He wore an orange-yellow jumpsuit over a brown shirt, with headphones and goggles huge on his head, his arms were huge with a few piercings around his wrists and a tail could be seen. He looked like a monkey.

"Alright boys, is this where the ship sank?" the monkey man asked.

"Aye Aye Sir," the crew responded.

"Then let's get to work!" the monkey man shouted enthusiastically.

"Boss look," one of the crew said and pointed at the Merry.

The monkey man turned and saw the straw hats ship with the crew on deck looking at them.

"Hey you lot, you had better not be muscling in on my turf," the monkey man warned.

"Your turf?" Usopp asked.

"That's right. Everything in this area belongs to me, Masira the Salvage King," Masira proclaimed.

"Salvage King?" Chopper asked .

"That's right I salvage all the ships in the area and the one that just fell from the sky is no different," Masira claimed.

"He looks like a monkey," Nami stated.

"Hm-mm," the others nodded in agreement.

Suddenly Nami got an idea.

"Hey are you going to salvage that ship?" Nami asked.

"Of course it's what kind of Salvage king would I be if I left a ship at the bottom of the ocean," Masira said proudly.

"Can we watch?" Nami asked.

"Y…You want to watch?...I see you've never seen a salvage operation before. Okay boys lets be sure to put on a good show," Masira declared.

"YEAH!" the other crew shouted in agreement.

'Idiots,' Nami thought.

The Straw hats watched the other crew get into full metal body suits and jump into the ocean, they were a lot more impressive than the ones that Usopp had made. Usopp was discreetly pumping air to the crew and he hoped that Luffy would have had enough of a head start to get to the bottom and look around the sunken ship.

Suddenly the men who went down in the metal suits flew out of the water and landed on the deck of their ship, Masira ran over and helped them out of their suits.

"Hey are you guys okay?" Masira asked urgently.

"T…T…There's something down there…" one of the men answered.

"What? Sea Kings…monsters, a Kraken?" Marsia asked.

Marsia did not get an answer because the men all passed out. The Captain stood up and turned to face the straw hats, he had a dark look on his face.

"Hey you guys," Marsia stared.

The straw hats all froze in fear that the Salvage king had figured out they were salvaging.

"There's some kind of monster down there, be careful and keep an eye out," Marsia warned.

The straw hats let out a sigh of relief.

"We will thanks for the warning," Nami responded.

They watched as the other crew continued their work and Marsia ordered something called the Cradle to be dropped before sending more men down with a warning to look out for whatever monster was down there. The side of the ship unfolded and tow very large racks with crescent shape spikes splashed into the water.

Connor wondered what it was for, but didn't ask; if the other crew was focused on salvaging the ship then the less chance of Luffy was of being discovered

"HEY WHAT THE HE…" Luffy's voice suddenly screamed through the air pipe, it was quickly covered by Nami, Chopper and Usopp.

The straw hats froze as Marsia looked at them in suspension.

"W…What the heck was that thing you dropped?" Connor asked quickly.

Marsia looked at him and Connor started to get nervous but Marsia just smiled.

"It's called a cradle; we'll use it to bring up the sunken ship," Marsia answered.

The straw hats breathed a sigh of relief and Nami made a gesture with her head for Connor to keep the other Captin distracted. Connor caught on.

"How will you bring the ship back up?" Connor asked.

Marsia grinned.

"That's a trade secret but if you hang around you'll get to see it," Marsia claimed.

'So it's not that big of a secret,' Connor, Usopp, Chopper, Robin and Nami all thought at the same time.

The straw hats continued to watch the other crew work and eventually Marsia ordered the monkey to be launched and the figure head of the ship extended out wards as a crane lifted it up and dropped it into the sea. Marsia looked at the pirates again.

"Your probably wondering what that was for?" Marsia asked.

'Not really,' the pirates thought.

"Yes why did you just drop your figure head?" Usopp asked.

"Well the Cradle we dropped earlier are like claws and once they embedded onto the ship we drop the monky to secuer them in place and help bring the ship up to the surface," Marsia explained.

"But that ship was fairly large, won't your ship be pulled under if you try and reel it up?" Robin asked.

"That's the beauty of it, the ship will come to us," Marsia answered confidently.

"Hey bring me the hose," Marsia ordered.

Marsia brought him a long yellow hose; Marsia took a deep breath and then breathed down the hose. A huge clump of air went down the hose into the ocean and Marsia handed it off to his crew who attached to a large air blower. They were jumping up and down on it.

"I see they're blowing air into the ship and to push the water out. The ship would rise back to the surface naturally," Usopp observed.

"Salvaging is cool." Connor smiled.

"Yea it is, and if you put your heart into it the reward will be all the greater," Marsia agreed.

"BOSS HELP!" One of Marsia's men cried out. it came from the air pipes so it was one of the men underwater.

"What's wrong, is it the monster?" Marsia asked.

"NO…THERES SOMEONE IN THE SHIP!" the voice screamed.

"Hang on, I'm coming," Marsia declared and struck a pose…he did not move afterwards.

The straw hats were confused as to why his men put a fire backdrop behind him.

"Ummm…aren't you going to save your crew?" Usopp asked.

"Yeah it's not like we're going to take a picture or anything," Nami added.

Marsia looked at them in shock.

"Y…Y…YOUR NOT?!" he asked in surprise.

"Your men are probably drowning or dying from decompression," Robin stated.

"Oi that's too morbid," Usopp said.

"Oh you're right," Marsia said "HANG ON BOYS I'M COMING!"

Marsia jumped into the sea.

"Nami why are there so many idiots on the Grand Line?" Connor asked looking at the navigator.

"I have no idea Connor," Nami responded.

The two crews waited to get a response from there friends who were on the ship and Marsia continued to pump air down into the sea. A big dark shadow appeared underneath both ships.

"What's that?" Chopper asked pointing at the shadow.

"Maybe it's the monster that has been attacking us?" one of Marsia men suggested.

"Yes that has to it," another agreed.

Nami rested the urge to face palm, she could not believe how stupid this salvaging crew was. Suddenly the giant Creature burst out of the ocean; it was a massive giant Sea Turtle that was the size of a small island. Hanging out of its mouth was several planks of wood and three familiar yellow hoses that were connected to the Merry.


	33. Jaya Pt 2

_**A.n I own Nothing.**_

 _ **I am still accepting feed back on this story, please send me any comments or suggestions you may have.**_

 _ **Please review.**_

* * *

Both crews stared at the Sea Turtle in shock as it chewed on the remains of what once the ship that fell from the sky. Masira's crew was in complete state of panic and they called out for their boss but the turtle just continued to eat.

On the Merry the Straw hats were no better off, only Robin was not panicking.

"W…What is that thing?" Nami asked fearfully.

"I didn't Care, I don't see it," Usopp cried "it's a dream that's all it is a dream,"

"Really this is all a dream?" Chopper asked hopefully.

"Of course, it's a dream Giant Turtles the size of islands don't exist," Nami agreed.

The three sighed and tuned their backs on the turtle satisfied that it was most likely a dream. Connor however activated his sight and found that the turtle was giving off an aura.

"It's giving off a white arura," Connor stated and his eyes went back to their normal colour.

Nami Chopper and Usopp froze at that.

"Aren't those the boy's air hoses?" Robin asked.

This statement made Nami Usopp and Chopper start to shake and then a crunching sound was herd.

"I suppose this means they were eaten…oh well at least the turtle remembered to chew," Robin said.

"Actually…" Connor started.

"DON'T SAY SUCH THINGS!" Usopp cried interrupting Connor.

"Umm guys Luffy's…" Connor tried.

"WHAAAAAAA! LUFFY AND THE OHTERS GOT EATEN!" Chopper cried as he ran around the deck, he was in such a panic that he kept switching between forms.

"If you could just…" Connor attempted.

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT NAMI, YOU SENT THEM TO THE BOTTOM OF THE GRAND LINE!" Usopp yelled at the navigator "YOU SENT THEM WITHOUT KNOWING IT WAS SAFE!"

"IT'S THE GRAND LINE, OF COURSE IT WAS GOING TO BE DANGOUS! THE SURFACE IS BAD ENOUGH WHAT DID YOU THINK THE BOTTEM WOULD BE LIKE!" Nami yelled back.

"Nami, the others are…" Connor tired again.

"THAT DOSE NOT CHANGE THE FACT THAT YOUR GREED GOT THEM KILLED!" Usopp shouted.

"Your right it's my fault," Nami admitted.

She looked at the turtle with a serious expression.

"Sorry," Nami apologised.

"NO YOUR NOT!" Usopp yelled.

"I give up," Connor sighed in defeat.

It was clear that no one was listening to him or going to listen to him. The Merry started to strain as the ship was pulled closer to the turtle and the crew were thrown off balance by the sudden shift.

"What now?" Chopper panicked.

"It appears the turtle is going to either eat us or drag us underwater," Robin answered.

"NOOOOO ROBIN DO SOMETHING!" Usopp begged.

"I can't it's too big, the only way to ensure our survival is to cut the lines," Robin advised.

"WHATTT NOO! WHAT ABOUT LUFFY?!" Chopper cried.

Connor looked over to Masira's crew they had gotten over the initial shock and the first mate was giving orders to have the air hoses and all of the salvaging equipment reeled in so they could help their captain.

Usopp noticed this as well and he was inspired by Masira's crew's dedication.

'That's right in time like this the loyalty and bravery of a crew is tested,' Usopp thought.

"Alright," Usopp said confidently and taking charge "Let's…"

"Cut the lines," Nami finished.

Usopp fell face first onto the deck.

"You don't decide that!" Usopp cried jumping up.

"Why not, I'm the navigator and the lives of everyone on board are in my hands," Nami argued.

"What about Luffy, Zoro and Sanji?" Usopp asked.

"They're not on board, so they're on their own," Nami pointed out.

"YOU ARE THE WORST!" Usopp shouted.

"THE WORST!" Chopper repeated.

Suddenly the sky turned dark, Nami and Usopp stopped arguing and looked at the sky.

"Is it night time?" Usopp asked.

Nami pulled out a pocket watch and looked at it.

"No…it's still early morning. What's going on?" She asked.

Robin looked over to the other crew and listened to what they were saying.

"We have to hurry, when night falls during the day monsters come out," on panicked.

"I don't want to be killed," another panicked.

'Monsters…what Monsters?' Robin wondered.

Suddenly something came flying out of the water and landed on the deck, it was Luffy.

"Luffy…Your alive!" Usopp and Chopper cheered.

Luffy however did not move and Nami ran over to him, she began slapping him across the face constantly.

"Luffy wake up…did you get any treasure?" Nami asked.

Zoro and Sanji then climbed onto the ship, they were breathing heavily and both had big full sack slung over there shoulders.

"Hey set sail…now," Zoro ordered.

"Zoro, Sanji you're alive too," Usopp cried happily.

"We have to get away from here," Sanji said.

"Why?" Robin asked.

"There's some kind of monster down there," Zoro started.

"Oh you mean the Turtle that ate you?" Robin asked.

"Turtle? No I'm talking about the Monkey in the ocean," Zoro said.

"it must have been some kind of sea monster," Sanji said.

"He and Luffy became fast friends,"

"It was scary how fast it happened,"

"Once we started picking this stuff up, he started rampaging," Zoro finished.

"So you weren't eaten by a giant turtle?" Usopp asked.

"Turtle…why do you keep going on about a turtle?" Sanji asked.

"Hey the turtles acting wired," Connor interrupted "it's got its mouth open,"

Zoro and Sanji looked at the boy and then turned around to see the giant turtle and its mouth was hanging open.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!" Zoro and Sanji yelled together.

"NOTICE THINGS AROUND YOU!" Usopp yelled.

Zoro and Sanji put there sacks down and quickly started to get ready to set out, Luffy woke up in the middle of preparation.

"Hey why is it night-time…did I miss dinner?" Luffy asked.

"Luffy give us a hand, we're getting out of here," Zoro said.

Just then Luffy noticed the turtle.

"I GAINT TURTLE!" He screamed with excitement.

"FOCUS YOU IDIOT!" Sanji screamed.

"Imagine all the turtle soup we could get from that," Luffy drooled.

"WHY ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT FOOD NOW?!" Zoro yelled.

While they were arguing something else jumped out form the ocean, it was Masira. The Salvage King landed on the starboard raining of the ship, he did not notice the giant turtle either.

"Hey you guys don't think you can get away with stealing my treasure," Masira said angrily.

"Treasure?" Nami asked as her eyes turned to Beli signs.

"Yep, there was a lot of cool stuff down there," Luffy laughed.

Masira and Luffy then noticed that most of the crew were frozen in fear an looking in the same direction, Masira looked over at his own crew and they were the same as the straw hats. The two captains followed the crew's gave and their jaws dropped.

In the sky above them was three silhouette of what looked like humanoids with wings holding very tall spears, the centre one raised its spear an pointed it at the Merry.

"GHHHAAAAAA! WHAT ARE THOSE?!" Luffy panicked "THERE BIGGER THAN GIANTS!"

"WHO CARES, RUN!" Nami cried.

The merry shot across the ocean in a binding speed as all of the straw hats except Robin and Connor rowed in sheer panic away from the shadow monsters. Connor was tumbling across the deck form how fast they were going and Ronin used her powers to support the boy to make sure he did not fall overboard.

Robin also noticed that Masira was with them and he was rowing as well. The archaeologist created an arm on Masira's back and while the salvager was busy rowing Robins hand took something from him and tossed it to Robin.

The Merry was going so fast that it was soon the monsters were out of sight and the sky became bright again. Once the straw hats were out of danger they all sat slumped on the deck exhausted and out of breath.

"W…Were those real?" Zoro asked.

"They couldn't have been, they're too big," Usopp said.

"Man the Grand Line has so many mysteries," Sanji said as he lit up a cigarette "It's just one thing after another here,"

"First a ship falls form the sky…" Zoro said.

"The Log pose points to the Sky and doesn't change," Nami said next.

"Some wired Monkey comes and salvages the ship," Usopp added.

"A giant turtle then eats the ship while it's been raised," Chopper stated.

"Night falls in the morning…"Robin said.

"And then shadow monsters hundreds of times the size of giants appear," Luffy finished.

The crew all looked at Connor expectedly.

"What?" Connor asked.

"Don't you have something to add to this?" Sanji asked.

Connor thought about what the straw hats had said.

"No you all pretty much summed it up…although…"

"Although what?" Luffy asked.

"What's he doing here?" Connor asked, pointing at Masira. All the straw hats turned to see the salvager was sitting on the deck with them.

"Yeah those monsters were scary alright," Masira agreed.

"GET OFF!" Zoro, Luffy and Sanji yelled as they ran over to him and kicked him off the ship, Masira flew into the air and out of sight with a twinkle.

Once the crew had caught their breath the Merry set off again and Nami wanted to look at what the boys had brought back from their dive. Usopp was looking up at the sky thoughtfully with Connor and Chopper claiming that he once beat ten of those Giants.

Chopper believed the sniper instantly but Connor didn't, as Usopp started to tell the story of how he beat ten giant shadow warriors Connor tuned his attention to the Zoro and Sanji as they showed Nami their hoard.

Nami looked at it disappointingly while Luffy somehow got into some old armour and started marching around on the deck. Connor watched Luffy in mild interest as his head followed the directions Luffy marched while listing to Nami.

"What the hell is this crap?" Nami asked.

"It's what we found," Zoro said.

"Why did you bring this stuff back, I told you to look for records, maps a ships Log," Nami scolded.

"But this was all that was down there," Zoro insisted.

"He's right Nami-swan, we didn't find anything like what you asked for," Sanji claimed.

"Listen what happened to that ship could happen to us, that is why we needed the information," Nami explained.

"Nam-swan it looked like a battle had happened, or a mutiny of some kind," Sanji said "That ship was over 200 years old, anything would like records would have been gone long ago. Maybe by the people who attacked it,"

"Nami we brought back everything that we could,"

"You brought back Junk, what's with this old stuff. Pots, Vases, rusted swords and a live octopus," Nami said angrily.

Nami sighed and then noticed Luffy, she got in his path and glared at the Captain.

"Luffy, what's that you're wearing?" Nami demanded.

"Armor," Luffy answered.

Nami growled and punched the armour; it was so old it shattered from the impact.

"She shattered it in one punch," Zoro said in a mix of awe and fear.

"Oi Nami you don't go around breaking a man's Armor," Luffy scolded.

This earned him a few punches to the head and kick to the face from the Navigator. Luffy crashed into the pile of junk that they had brought up.

"Nami-swan I did bring you some pretty shells," Sanji said as he held out some very beautiful rainbow coloured shells.

Nami snatched them as she walked past and threw them overboard.

"Ahh…she's so cute when she's angry," Sanji complemented with hearts in his eyes.

"My Armor…" Luffy cried depressingly.

Connor spied the live octopus crawling on the deck, he walked over to it and poked it's head and the octopus climbed onto his arm. Connor tried to pull it off but the octopus wrapped it tentacles tightly around the boys arm and refused to let go.

Nami stooped and watched the boy struggling with the octopus and she sighed thinking he was playing around.

"I'm surrounded by idiots," Nami stated.

""Well I think this may make you feel better," Robin said and handed her an eternal pose.

"This is…where did you get this?" Nami asked in surprise.

"From Masira, I took it from him while he was rowing," Robin smiled.

Nami began to cry and Robin was worried that she had done something to upset the Navigator.

"You're the only one I can depend on," Nami cried happily and pulled Robin into a hug.

Robin was a little surprised at this; she gave Nami an awkward pat on the back.

"Uhh…There there," Robin tried; she was not good when it came to physical contact.

Luffy noticed Connor struggling with octopus.

"Is that an Octopus?" Luffy asked excitedly, he forgot about the Armor and ran over to Connor.

"It won't come off," Connor whined.

"That means it can't escape," Luffy grinned.

"Escape what?" Connor asked worriedly.

"Sanji, Connor's got an Octopus. Make me some Takoyaki," Luffy demanded.

"Sure why not," Sanji said and he walked over to Connor "Your coming with me,"

Connor followed the chief into the kitchen so he could get the octopus off his arm.

In the Kitchen once Sanji ad got the octopus off Connors arm, Connor looked at the sucker marks on his arm but they were fading quickly. He watched Sanji work worth interest.

"What's Takoyaki?" Connor asked.

"Deep fired octopus balls with soy sauce on top," Sanji answered without looking up from cutting up the Octopus.

"Are they tasty?" Connor asked.

"Yep, there really nice, have you never tried them?" Sanji asked glancing over his shoulder.

Connor shook his head.

Sanji went back to Cooking and it did not tak him long to make the batter and make the small shaped Takoyaki balls, once they were cooking Sanji turned to see Connor was still watching him.

"So I've been meaning to ask you something," Sanji said.

"What is it?" Connor asked.

"Usopp said he did some cooking while you guys were in the mist and you helped," Sanji said.

"I…I didn't take anything…honest," Connor said quickly and fearfully, he knew what Sanji did to those that stole food...well he knew what the cook did when Luffy stole food.

Sanji sighed; he should have expected this response.

"I'm not mad that you or him for stealing food," Sanji assured "I was wondering if you helped him,"

"Usopp did all the cooking. I just helped him carry the food out," Connor answered.

"But you didn't help him,"

"No," Connor responded.

Sanji thought that it was odd that Usopp did not have Connor help him; then again Usopp had always been more observant of Connors behaviour than the others so maybe there was a different reason.

"Connor…do you know how to cook?" Sanji asked.

"No," Connor answered.

"Do you want to learn?" Sanji asked.

Connor looked at the chief in surprise but quickly shook his head.

"I…I don't think that's a good idea," Connor said softly.

"Why?"

"Because the last time I tried…it turned out worse than Apis's cooking," Connor claimed "and I was…"

"It couldn't have been that bad," Sanji assured.

Connor looked at him sceptically and Sanji's face paled at the thought that there was someone worse than Apis's at cooking.

"Were you punished for it?" Sanji asked.

Connor nodded sadly.

"Well how about this, I'll teach you and if you fail…we'll feed your failures to Luffy," Sanji grinned.

"I…I don't know," Connor said unsure.

"Cooking is a good skill to have, besides if you know how to cook then that's one less thing you have to worry about being punished for," Sanji stated.

Connor had to agree with Sanji on that point, he knew that slaves that could cook were generally left alone and slightly better treatment than those that did not.

"Well…I suppose it wouldn't hurt," Connor admitted.

"Great and if you want to stop just let me know and we'll stop," Sanji smiled.

"But when will I learn?" Connor asked.

"Hmm…well how about you help me make dinner every night? I make the most verity of dishes then we can start with some simple meals and work our way up," Sanji suggested.

Sanji waited patiently as Connor thought about his offer. Connor thought about it and looked at the chief.

"Can you teach me to make cake?" Connor asked.

"I can teach you how to make the best kind of cakes," Sanji answered with a smile.

Connor smiled back and Sanji got the Takoyaki out and served them in a couple of plates, he handed one to Connor and walked out of the kitchen. Connor followed him onto the deck where he saw Sanji hand out the other plates, Connor tired his Takoyaki and he liked it.

Connor sat down with Usopp and Chopper to eat his share of the food and Luffy noticed that Nami was holding an Eternal Pose, the captain spied the name written on the compass.

"Jaya…where's that are we going there?" Luffy asked, with a mouthful of Takoyaki.

"That's way you decide," Nami snapped.

Luffy emptied his plate into his mouth and swallowed all of his Takoyaki balls, he turned to the crew.

"All right, lets head to Jaya," Luffy cheered.

"Nami which way is Jaya?" Luffy asked realising he did not nowhere to go.

"Starboard," Nami answered.

"Hard to starboard," Luffy cried "Chopper you steer the ship,"

"Okay," Chopper said happily

Chopper ran into the kitchen and tuned the Merrry's helm to the direction that Luffy and Nami had specified.

"Hang on, if we go to Jaya won't the log just reset once we get there?" Usopp asked.

"So," Luffy said.

"So if the log changes, that means we won't be able to go to the sky," Usopp pointed out.

"WHAT?!" Luffy screamed "NOOOO UNTURN TO JAYA!"

Luffy ran up to Nami and looked at her in panic.

"Nami what did you do that for?" Luffy panicked.

"What? You're the one who decided to go to Jaya," Nami responded calmly "That's just how the Log Pose works,"

"Oh that's right," Luffy remembered.

He then turned to his crew again.

"Alright I'm the captain and I say we go to the Sky Island," Luffy declared.

"Oaky how do we get there?" Nami asked.

"Umm…." Luffy said as he thought about it "We could ask someone for directions,"

"So you want to gather information," Nami reasoned.

"Yeah that…let's do that," Luffy agreed.

"Okay then how about we aske at Jaya," Nami suggested.

"Okay hard turn to Jaya," Luffy ordered.

"We already did that," Usopp pointed out.

"Luffy the Log won't set as soon as we land, we just need to leave again before that happens," Robin supplied.

"So we can still go to the sky even I we get to Jaya?" Luffy asked.

"If we can find the information we need then yes," Robin answered.

"Alright, first Jaya and then the Sky," Luffy agreed with a big grin.

Nami sighed at her captain's antics and went to make sure that Chopper was steering the ship in the right direction.


	34. Jaya Pt 3

_**A.n I own nothing.**_

 _ **Please Review**_

* * *

The Merry approached the Island of Jaya, the Island had a busting town, tall buildings and shops as well as a few fancy hotels that looked like a relaxing resorts. Nami was able to tell from the calm and warm weather that Jaya was a spring Island; she was also able to predict that the weather would remain nice for the next couple of days.

As they pulled into the harbour looking for a place to dock the straw hats noticed an unusual amount of pirate ships anchored in the harbour. Chopper was curious as to why there were so many pirate ships out in the open. Once anchored Nami gathered the crew together to discuss what they were going to do.

"Alright we're here to gather information on three things," Nami started. "First, we need to know how long it takes for the Log to set, second any information on Sky Island and third…"

"Nami, Zoro and Luffy just left," Connor pointed out.

Nami whirled around to see Luffy and Zoro were walking away from the ship.

"I'll kill those idiots," Nami growled and she jumped off the ship and ran to catch up with them.

"Well I guess I'll hang out with Robin-chan," Sanji smiled but noticed Robin was also gone.

"She left before the other two," Usopp stated.

Sanji frowned if the girls were gone then there was no reason for him to stay on the ship.

"I guess I'll go shopping for supplies then," Sanji sighed a bit disappointed.

Usopp and Chopper ran up to him and tackled him to the deck.

"NOOO YOU CAN"T LEAVE" they cried WHAT IF SOMETHING HAPPENS!"

"Okay okay, I won't leave," Sanji promised, he wanted to get the two off him as being held down by a grown man and a human reindeer hybrid was making him unconfutable.

Chopper and Usopp got off the cook and breathed a sigh of relief, Sanji then noticed that Connor was getting of the ship; He ran up to the boy and grabbed him by the back of his white hooded jacket before Connor jumped off the ship.

Sanji held him in mid-air and looked at Connor annoyed.

"Where do you think you're going?" the cook asked.

"To explore," Connor answered.

"Oh no, you're not walking around unsupervised in a town with other pirate crews docked,"

"Aww…. But I want to go too," Connor whinnied "I left the ship on all the other Islands we landed on,"

"You were with other members of the crew,"

"But…"

"No buts, your 13 so that means unless you're with another member of the crew you stay on the ship where it's safe and you don't go wondering off on you own," Sanji scolded.

Connor crossed his arms legs and pouted, but did not talk back; he was not used to people looking out for him. Sanji took it as sign that Connor understood and put him down on the deck before walking off to the kitchen.

Connor looked over towards Usopp and Chopper and wondered if he could convince one of them to take go with him. But that Idea was shot down when some random pass by got beat up another man who declared himself a wrestling champion. Usopp and Chopper both fainted when the man looked in their direction.

'Guess I'm staying on board,' Connor thought and let out a sigh.

Usopp and Chopper eventually got back up and then they started playing on the deck, after a while Usopp decided to do some repairs on the Merry and Chopper agreed to help him. Sanji came out of the kitchen when he heard hammering noises and came over to see what was going on.

"What are you two doing?" Sanji asked from the deck of the ship above the two pirates.

"Repairing the Merry," Chopper answered.

"Make sure you do a good job," Sanji said as he lit a citrate.

"I'm not a shipwright, I can only do patch jobs," Usopp said.

"Maybe we should just get a new stronger ship," Sanji suggested.

"What no, do you know what we had to do to get the Merry," Usopp defended. He was horrified that Sanji would even suggest that.

"Yeah yeah, you told me. It was given to you by some girl in your village…" Sanji said "Though I bet if she ate my cooking she's get better,"

"KEEP YOUR PERVETED THOUGHT AWAY FROM KAYA!" Usopp screamed.

"So that's her name…I wonder if she'd let me call her Kaya-chan or Princess Kaya," Sanji smirked.

"I will kill you, slowly," Usopp warned.

"Relax I'm just messing with you," Sanji assured waving Usopps threat off.

Sanji turned back to the deck and scanned it.

"Hey…is Connor helping you with repairs?" Sanji asked.

"No, he was on the ship last time we saw him," Chopper answered.

"Huh…he better not have left. We really need to set some ground rules for him," Sanji claimed.

"What do you mean?" Usopp asked.

"He tried to leave the ship by himself earlier, I told him off for it," Sanji said.

"Good he shouldn't wander around on his own," Usopp agreed "Who knows what trouble he'll get into,"

"Well we didn't see him leave," Chopper said.

Sanji nodded and checked around the ship, he found Connor on the top deck near the back staring at Namis trees with glowing yellow eyes. Connor looked up at Sanji as he approached.

"Hey what are you doing?"

"Practising," Connor answered.

"Practising what?" Sanji asked.

"My sight,"

"I thought you could control that already," Sanji pointed out.

"I can but…I recently learned that there is more to it then I first thought," Connor said.

"Oh, do tell," Sanji said.

Connor then explained everything Edward had told him in the Rainbow Mist, how his sight was still growing and how it could evolve. He explained that Edward also had the same gift; there were others who possessed it too and the law on how if anyone was caught with it they were to be killed on sight.

"I see…that's really interesting, so you're trying to make your sight stronger," Sanji said.

"Edward said I just had to keep using it to make it stronger and that it would grow with me," Connor answered.

"So why are you using it on Nami-swans trees?" Sanji asked.

"I can see peoples aruras, Edward said the next step was the environment will glow. I'm practicing on Nami trees but it's not working," Connor said disappointingly.

"Well, you know what they say. Practice makes perfect," Sanji said.

"I guess," Connor said a little disappointed.

Sanji picked up on his disappointment and quickly thought of a way to cheer him up.

"Hey maybe these trees are too small," Sanji said.

Connor looked up at the cook in confusion.

"Maybe you need to practice on a bigger environment…like a forest or jungle," Sanji suggested.

"You think so?" Connor asked.

"Yeah, hey why don't we see if there's something like that on the Island. If there is…I'll take you there for a few hours and we can see if that makes a difference," Sanji offered.

"But you said I wasn't allowed to leave the ship," Connor reminded.

"Only without supervision, if someone goes with you its fine," Sanji clarified "It really is for your own safety,"

Connor was about to respond when he suddenly felt his brand pulse twice in succession, he instantly gripped his arm.

"Oh no," Connor whispered.

"What's wrong…dose your brand hurt?" Sanji asked in concern wondering if he had done something that would cause the boys brad to activate.

Connor stood up and looked at Sanji worriedly.

"No…Luffy and Zoro were just beaten," Connor answered.

"WHAT?!" Sanji yelled "Are they dead or just unconscious or…"

"I don't know…all I know is they were defeated in some way," Connor claimed.

"So…does this mean you change masters?" Sanji asked fearfully "Are you leaving?"

"What no I can't leave, it will only come to that if the whole crew gets defeated," Connor assured "I have changed masters but it's still within the crew,"

"So who is it now?" Sanji asked.

"Nami…I think, it might also be Chopper"

"You think?"

"Well if I belong to a group of people like a pirate crew ownership is transferred from one member to the next by order of importance. So when Luffy got beaten by Crocodile I went to Zoro because he is the first mate," Connor explained.

"So if both Luffy and Zoro get beaten…you go to the next person of the highest rank," Sanji said in understanding.

"Right and because this crew does not have much in a ranking system past Luffy and Zoro it's hard to determine who is next after them," Connor claimed.

"So why Nami-swan or Chopper? I'm one of the best fighters on the crew. Why not me?"

"Well at the risked of being punished for this…compared to Nami and Chopper you're kind of beneath them," Connor said.

"What's that mean?" Sanji said a little offended.

"It means that a Navigator and a Doctor out rank a chef…at least as far as my brand is concerned…come to think of it I'd probably go to Usopp before you," Connor said.

"Usopp out ranks me!" Sanji yelled in shock "I'll kick his ass,"

"Won't work, your part of the crew if you do that you and either Nami or Chopper get beaten I will still go to him before you," Connor stated.

"That thing on your arm is evil and I hate it," Sanji huffed.

"Try living with it," Connor responded.

Suddenly Chopper screamed loudly, Sanji and Connor ran to the side of the ship both ready for a fight, when they got there they saw Nami dragging a heavily beaten up Luffy and Zoro. Nami looked upset.

Nami dragged her two crewmates on board and dropped them on the deck, Usopp and Chopper ran onto the ship while Connor and Sanji calmly walked over to them.

"Well…looks like you were right," Sanji said to Connor.

"Oh no Luffy, Zoro!" Chopper panicked "Quick get a doctor,"

"Chopper that's you," Usopp pointed out.

"Oh yeah," Chopper realised and he quickly got to work.

Thankfully the injuries looked worse than they were and both Zoro and Luffy were fine, Luffy had a few deep cuts on his arm but nothing too serious whereas Zoro only had light bruising. Both pirates also had some red liquid on them but most of it was red wine and only Luffy was actually bleeding.

Luffy and Zoro explained what happened to them and Nami was really angry at them.

"So you got into a bar fight, were there any monsters or supernatural creatures?" Usopp asked.

"Nah just a single pirate," Luffy answered.

"He was all talk," Zoro claimed.

"So if it was just one guy, why did you come back looking like this?" Sanji asked.

"And can we expect a visit from him?" Usopp added.

"Nope it's finished, he wasn't really worth the fighting," Luffy said.

The rest of the crew sighed in relief.

"Luffy don't make a habit of doing that okay," Sanji warned.

"Why not?"

"Because it counts as a defeat," Connor answered.

Luffy and the others stared at Connor realising what he was saying.

"Does this mean Luffy and I have lost claim over you?" Zoro asked.

"Yes," Connor answered.

"But we'll get it back right?"

Connor nodded.

"In 24 hours, as long as the crew still has ownership over me my brand will re-recognise you tow as my masters. You can also go back and defeat the person who beat you as well and that will restore your claim over me too," Connor explained.

"Oh…sorry to make you worry," Luffy apologised.

"Oh yeah did you guys find anything out about Sky Island?" Chopper asked.

"What was that?" Nami asked dangerously, she had a mudras aura surrounding her.

Chopper quickly swallowed a rumball and activated his Guard point, Usopp pretended to be dead by splashing tomato sauce over his chest.

"I don't want to go there anymore," Nami declared "We'll wait for the log to set and then head off,"

"But Nami I want to go to Sky Island," Luffy whined, this earned him a massive bump on his head.

"We will wait for the Log to set," Nami said in a no nonsense tone.

Just then Robin boarded the ship she was carrying several shopping bags and wore a new purple outfit with a matching cowboy style hat.

"My it certainly is lively here what all the excitement for?" Robin asked as she came on deck.

"Welcome back Robin-chwan, are you hungry? Do you want something to drink?" Sanji asked happily with harts in his eyes.

Zoro rolled his eyes at the cook.

"What's up Robin did you go shopping?" Luffy asked.

"Yes, I don't have any clothes of my own on board so I went and bought some along with other previsions that might come in handy for Sky Island," Robin said.

At the mention of Sky Island Nami snapped.

"OI ROBIN IT'S YOUR FAULT, YOU WERE THE ONE WHO PUT SKY ISLAND INTO LUFFYS HEAD SO EVRYTHING WE WENT THROUGH IS YOUR DOING!" Nami yelled.

"Oh does this mean we're not going?" Robin asked sounding disappointed.

"Of course we're still going," Luffy said.

Nami kicked Luffy in the back of the head with such force that it sent him flying into the mast. Chopper panicked and shifted to his jumping point and jumped overboard into the sea to avoid Namis wrath.

Zoro jumped in after him.

"WE'RE WAITING FOR THE LOG TO SET!" Nami yelled.

"Oh that is a shame, and after I found a clue on how to get there," Robin said.

"YOU FOUND SOMETHING….REALLY?!" Luffy asked excitedly, he jumped up completely recovered from Nami's attack.

"Yes apparently there is a man who lives on the other side of the Island; he was chased out of town for speaking about his dreams. Apparently he is looking for El Dorado, the lost city of gold," Robin claimed.

At the mention of gold Namis eyes turned Beli signs and she ran up to robin.

"City of gold? Forget Sky Island we're going there. Where is this man?" Nami demanded.

"But Nami, I want to go to the sky," Luffy whined.

"I managed to procure a map of the Island and a very nice gentlemen marked exactly where this man lives," Robin said and handed the map to Luffy who stared at it.

It was a map of the island.

"But what about the sky?" Luffy asked.

"The man searching for El Dorado knows all the legends of the area, if there is a way to get to Sky Island he would be the person to ask," Robin reasoned.

"Besides if he doesn't we can always go find El Dorado," Nami insisted.

'She just wants the gold,' Zoro, Usopp, Chopper and Connor all thought at the same time.

The Merry set off with Nami guiding it to the other side of the Island; they kept in sight of the Jaya because the Log Pose was still pointing towards the sky. Sanji told Luffy about Connors attempt to leave the ship by himself and Luffy agreed with the cook that they needed some rules for Connors own safety.

After a bit of a discussion the crew came up with two, Connor was not allowed to leave the ship by himself and he was not allowed to leave the ship or go wandering around at night. Luffy told Connor that these rules were his orders and Connor knew he would have no choice but to obey.

Along the way they met another crew who reminded them Musina, they were captained by a man named Shoujou who claimed to be the Sonar king.

Shoujou was a large man who looks like an orangutan with long green hair. He wore a black button up shirt that is too small for his body showing off his hairy torso, a green captain's coat with his arms in the sleeves, and a green captain's hat with his personal jolly roger on the front.

After Luffy revealed that he kicked the salvager Shoujou attacked but wound up tearing his own ship apart much the annoyance of his crew and the confusion of the straw hats. The sound waves that Shoujou was using to attack eventually reached the Merry and it began to fall apart, Choppers overly sensitive ears did not react well to the noise.

"MAKE IT STOPPP!" the doctor yelled.

Nami ordered the ship to retreat and Usopp suddenly got an Idea; he pulled out his slingshot and one his Tabasco sauce filled ammunition and fired it directly into Shoujou 's open mouth. The Sonar king swallows it only to start running around on his hips deck breathing a constant stream of fire.

"Well that takes care of that," Usopp said and the Merry continued on its way.

After a bit over an hour of sailing the Merry came to the location marked on the map that Robin provided and much to their surprise was a huge white Castle.

"WWWOOOWWWW!" Luffy, Usopp and Chopper cried admiringly.

"This guy must be loaded," Nami said happily.

Once the Merry was anchored Luffy jumped off the ship and ran to the castle only to find it a thin panted piece of wood attached to half the house.

"Awww, it's fake," Luffy said disappointingly.

The rest of the crew disembarked and looked around to see if the man who was supposed to live here was home.

"I guess he dreams big," Sanji said looking at the fake Castle.

Luffy went up to the house and opened the door.

"Hello anyone home?" Luffy asked as he walked inside.

"DON'T JUST ENTER PEOPLES HOUSES!" Usopp and Zoro yelled.

Luffy came back out a few seconds later.

"No one's home," he stated.

Connor looked around and pies a table made out of a tree stump and went over to it, on it was a book Connor picked it up; he recognised a couple of letters from his lessons with Robin but could not read the title.

"Nami what's this?" Connor called out.

Nami came over and took the book from him, she looked at it.

"Noland the Lair…It's a kids book," Nami claimed.

Sanji perked up at hearing the name.

"Did you just say Noland the Lair?" the cook asked as he walked over.

"That's what the title says," Nami claimed "But it looks pretty old,"

Sanji came over an took the book from Nami, he looked at it an flipped through it.

"Huh…wonder what this is doing out here?" Sanji said to himself.

"Have you herd of Noland?" Connor asked.

"Yeah Noland the Liar is a famous fairy tale in the Nroth blue, I was told it as a kid for as a bedtime story," Sanji said.

"Wait…you're from the North Blue?" Usopp asked.

"Yeah, didn't I tell you that?" Sanji responded.

"I thought you were from the East Blue like the rest of us," Zoro said.

"Nah I was born in the North, but I was raised in the East. To be honest I spent most of my life in the East blue,"

"How did you get from North to East?" Chopper asked.

"Oh my family liked to travel and once I wound up in the East I stayed because I met Zeff," Sanji said vaguely.

The crew accepted this answer but robin found it a bit vague, but she did not pry.

"So what's the story about?" Connor asked.

"An Explorer named Nolan; he was part of a kingdom in the North Blue. He sailed the Grand line regularly looking for new islands and resources for his kingdom," Sanji said.

"Wow he went in and out of the grand Line regularly, he must have been one hell of a sailor," Usopp praised.

"He was, the story goes that whenever he got back Noland would tell his adventures to the kingdom, but they were so farfetched no one could tell if they were true or not,"

"Makes sense, the grand line is full of weird and impossible things," Robin agreed.

"Anyway, after one exibiton Naoland reported to the his king that he had found a city made of pure gold. The King naturally wanted to see it for himself so he commissioned Noland to take him and 2,000 solders to the city of gold,"

"Did they get there?" Connor asked.

"Well…sort of, Noland led the king to the Isalnd he claimed had the gold on it but when they arrived there was nothing but empty jungle,"

"So Noland was lying the whole time then," Zoro stated.

"I guess, the king had him executed and Nolands last words were the City of gold must've sunk beneath the sea," Sanji finished.

"So he lied till the very end," Usopp claimed.

"Yes he was a pitiful liar and he perished in disgrace," Sanji said, he then looked over at Usopp "Without ever becoming a brave warrior of the sea,"

"WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT?!" Usopp yelled.

"So…where's the city of gold?" Luffy asked.

"Luffy it's a fairy tale, the city most likely never existed," Sanji said.

Luffy frowned and then went back to look at the fake castle, he then noticed some bubbles on the surface of the water and bent down to get a closer look at them.

"But don't stories always have some truth behind them?" Connor asked.

"They do, there are records of an explorer called Nolan and he did explore the Grand Line about four hundred years ago, but the records say he died at sea," Sanji claimed.

"How do you know this?" Robin asked.

"Its common knowledge in the North Blue, a lot of kids hear this story so they go looking for information on Noland and his fabled city of gold. He was a real person but there is nothing recorded about him finding a city of gold," Sanji claimed "His expeditions and this story have been a debate for scholars for over two hundred years,"

"So did you do some research on Noland as child?" Luffy asked.

"Yeah, when I first heard the story I thought about finding the lost city of gold but once I looked into it I realised that it was just a story," Sanji shrugged.

Suddenly a loud splash was herd and the straw hats looked over towards the cape and found that Luffy was missing.

"Did Luffy fall into the ocean again?" Nami asked irritably.

"I'll go get him," Sanji said and headed towards the ocean.

However before Sanji reached the shore someone climbed out of the ocean and on to the cape. He was a muscular, middle aged man with blond hair with a large chestnut on his head. He wore dark purple tracksuit-pants with a white stripe running along each leg and a rope tied around his waist. He did not have a shirt or shoes on and his left arm had a tattoo of a chestnut with the word " _Maroon_ " written across it.

"Hey, who the hell are you people?" the man demanded and he got into a fighting stance.

"Usopp get Luffy I'll handle this guy," Sanji said as he ran towards the man.

The unknown man aimed a kick at Sanji but the cook skilfully dodged it, Sanji attempted to strike the man but his leg was blocked by the other man's leg. The two continued to trade blows but neither one was hitting the other. Suddenly the man was able to push Sanji back and he pulled out a gun and shot at Sanji.

Sanji was able to doge the bullets as the man continued to fire. Zoro had had enough and ran in ready to finish the other man off with his sword when the man suddenly collapsed on the ground.

Zoro stopped right before him and looked at him in confusion.

"I thought he blocked your strikes," Zoro said.

"He did, I didn't get one decent hit on him," Sanji claimed.

Chopper ran over to examine the man and Usopp burst out of the ocean holding Luffy and the rubber captain was pulled out of the ocean and Luffy was finally brought back onto dry land.

The straw hats moved the man into the house which was fairly small, Chopper treated him and diagnosed him with Decompression sickness and summarised that the man was a diver as diving was the only way to develop it.

While the straw hats were taking care of the man Masira and Shoujou burst in surprising the crew. Usoop and Chopper ran round in panic.

"What the hell are you lot doing here?!" Masira demanded.

"What have you done to our boss?!" Shoujou added.

"He's sick so we're taking care of him," Luffy said like it was obvious "Get Lost,"

"THEY'LL NEVER BEILIVE THAT!" Usopp yelled.

"Boss is sick…really?" Masira asked.

"And you're taking care of him?" Shoujou added.

"Yep," Luffy answered.

Masira and Shoujou started to tar up.

"YOUR SO KIND!" they cried together.

"HOW DO THEY BELIEVE THAT?!" Usopp yelled.

While Chopper was treating the injured man Luffy, Masira and Shoujou sat outside and became fast friends much to the annoyance of Usopp the sniper was sitting against the house with Zoro and Connor.

"How is it that they became friends so fast?" Connor asked.

"Those three are all monkeys," Zoro stated. He looked over and Luffy was going into the finer points on how to properly kick someone off a ship.

"It's all in the swing, if you want to send someone flying you have to get the swing right," Luffy said.

Zoro just shook his head as it was clear that Masira and Shoujou believed him. The door to the house burst open and Chopper ran out.

"Luffy, he's awake," Chopper declared.

Luffy looked over at the doctor and smiled, he got up and walked into the house; Zoro, Usopp and Connor followed him. The injured man was sitting cross legged on his bed smoking a cigarette, he looked over at Luffy as the captain approached.

"The name is Montblanc Cricket," Cricket introduced himself "Sorry about earlier, I thought you were here to steal my gold,".

"GOLD!" Nami screamed in delight and her eyes turned to Beli signs.

"Stop it," Usopp warned.

"We're not here for your gold," Luffy said.

"Speak for yourself," Nami interrupted.

"We just wanted to ask you something," Luffy finished.

"Oh…what did you want to ask me?" Cricket asked curiously.

"We want to know how to get to the Sky Island," Luffy said.

Cricket blinked and stared at Luffy in shock for a second, he was not expecting that. He then burst out laughing.


	35. Jaya Pt 4

_**A.n I own Nothing**_

 _ **Please Review**_

* * *

Cricket laughed for a good five minutes, when he eventually calmed down Luffy was annoyed and Nami looked like she was going to kill Cricket for laughing at them, thankfully Usopp stopped her.

"I hate to burst your bubble but Sky Island doesn't exist," Cricket said.

"But it has too, a ship fell from the sky," Luffy instead.

"Yeah that happens sometimes but there is an explanation for that," Cricket claimed.

"There's an explanation for ships falling form the sky?" Usopp asked sceptically.

Cricket nodded.

"The temperatures and the pressure of the water in this area always changing; when it gets too extreme the sea shoots it up into the sky. We call it the Knock Up-Stream, ships get caught in it and get thrown up into the sky and you know what they say, what goes up must come down," Cricket explained.

"But we saw huge monsters in the clouds," Chopper urged.

"This is the Grand Line; monsters are as common as pirates. You just saw one of the few who don't live in the sea," Cricket reasoned.

"No there has to be a sky Island, we found a map," Luffy insisted.

"A map you say?" Cricket asked curiously "Can I see it?"

Luffy nodded he ran out of the house and back to the merry to get the map, when he got back he showed it to Cricket who eyed it critically. He put the map down and reached for a book on the shelf next to his bed, Cricket flipped though it until he found the page he was looking for.

"Here, read this," Cricket said handing the book to Nami.

Nami took the book and looked at the page, her eyes widened.

"This…is this real?" Nami asked.

"Yep," Cricket answered.

"What is it?" Luffy asked.

"It's a ships log," Nami claimed.

"Year of the Sea, January 26 1126 clear weather…hold on this date was 400 years ago," Nami said "Who's Log did this belong too?"

"I know, keep reading," Cricket urged.

"We have just departed the cheerful town on Vila Island, following the log pose we headed northeast. We had just purchased a curious artifact form a merchant; it was a one man small ship that glides over the ocean. We called it a Waver," Nami read "The Waver requires no wind to sail as it produces it's own,"

"A Waver? Sounds cool I want one," Luffy said coming over.

"The merchant claimed to have gotten it from a place called…SkyPiea," Nami gasped.

"So the map wasn't a fake after all, there really is a sky Island," Usopp said excitedly.

"Nami Keep reading," Chopper urged.

"The Waver takes great skill to control, I myself have yet to master it but despite its difficulty it has become the favorite pass time of the crew. I've had to draw up a schedule for turns on it to prevent fights. The waver wasn't the only thing the Merchant had, he also had some strange fish called Sky fish," Nami continued.

"Sky fish?" Sanji asked interested.

"The fish was one of the ugliest things I had ever seen, never the less the merchant sold it to us ad a reasonable price and we had it for dinner that night…it was the most delouses fish I had ever had, despite it's looks it was surprisingly nutritious,"

"When I asked the merchant for the location of SkyPiea he told me it was in the sky. I don't know if I truly believe it but I would defiantly like to find Sky Piea, the land in the sky and visit it one day. Montblanc Noland," Nami finished.

"It does exist, Sky Island is real," Luffy cheered.

"The name on the map and the name in the book are the same…that means we can go there," Usopp said happily.

"Alright we're going to the sky," Luffy declared.

"Wait Noland…the same Noland form the fairy tale?" Sanji gasped.

"Yep, that's his log book," Cricket claimed.

"But why do you have it? Shouldn't it be in the North Blue?" Connor asked.

"Well Noland was my ancestor, his Log books have been passed down through my family for generations," Cricket claimed.

"So you're looking for the city of gold to prove he wasn't a liar," Zoro reasoned.

"I could care less about whether the story is true or not. I'm more interested in proving the world wrong," Cricket said.

"What does that mean?" Connor asked.

"After Noland was executed his family were banished, word quickly spread of his lies and they were ridiculed…they still are. Do have any idea what it's like to grow up with everyone making fun of you and not believing a single thing you say just because your ancestor made a mistake 400 years ago?" Cricket asked.

"I had to live it so one day I formed my own pirate crew and decided to change the family name, but then by chance or fate we landed here…the Island that Noland claimed to have the city of gold. I decided to stay and search for it," Cricket finished.

"Have you found it?" Connor asked.

"Not yet, but I have found a lot of proof that it might be here…want to see?"

"Yeah!" Luffy yelled excitedly.

Cricket got up and walked over to his closet, he pulled something out that was covered by a blanket. Once the blanket was removed it revealed a big solid gold statue of a bird.

"WHOA!" the entire crew cried in amazement, Namis eyes turned to Beli signs.

"I've got more stuff like this as well, folks here may not believe the story but I find this stuff on the sea floor, that's why I keep diving," Cricket said.

"So pretty," Nami drooled.

Cricket put the blanket back on the statue and put it away, he then looked at the straw hats in contemplation.

"Look I don't know if Sky Island exists or not, I'm searching for a fabled city of gold so who am I to question your beliefs…so I'll help you get there," Cricket said.

"Really?" Luffy asked and then he realised something "But you said it didn't exist,"

"Well…I have a theory on where it might be…but it will be very dangerous. Are you sure you want to go?" Cricket asked.

Luffy nodded.

"Yep I want to go to the sky," Luffy said seriously.

"Aright, let's move outside," Cricket said.

Cricket and the Straw hats all moved outside, Masira and Shoujou were happy to see their boss back on his feet and feeling better.

"Hey why are these two here?" Nami asked.

"Oh there fans of the Noland story," Cricket claimed casually.

"There fans?" Usopp asked.

"Yep, they just showed up one day and said they were going to be my followers and help me find the city of gold. I can't seem to get rid of them," Cricket said affectionately.

"Hey you two, we're going to help these pirate get to Sky Island, so make some lunch while I tell them how we're going to do it," Cricket ordered.

Masira and Shoujou ran inside to do as they were told and the straw hats sat on the grass while Cricket explained the Knock Up-Stream and how they would use it to get to Sky Island. Usopp and Nami were sceptical that it could be done and pointed out that if they did get launched into the sky they would just fall back down again.

"That would only happen if there is nothing underneath you," Cricket claimed.

"Underneath us?" Nami asked.

"Right, in this area of the sea sometimes it will suddenly turn to night, despite the fact it is clearly day time," Cricket said.

"Hey that happened to us," Luffy said.

"Yeah and then those monsters appeared," Usopp added.

"Oh good you've already experienced this then," Cricket said "Well ignoring the fact that Giants appear night did not fall it was in fact a cumulus could,"

"That's not possible," Nami interrupted.

"What's a cumulus cloud?" Connor asked curiously.

"It's a type of large thick cloud that can block out the sun, that's why sometimes during the day it goes dark for a bit. Lots of cumulus clouds often lead to rain clouds," Nami explained.

"That's correct except this cumulus cloud never changes its shape or size, it's like its petrified," Cricket added.

"But I thought clouds always changed their shape," Luffy said.

"They do and that's due to the wind, it's impossible for a cloud to maintain its shape forever," Nami claimed.

"Look you can argue about impossible all you want but the fact remains is that this cumulus cloud has not changed since it was first recorded and that cloud and the Knock Up-Stream always show up at the same time,"

"So…what you're saying is.."

"If Sky Island is going to be anywhere it would be in that Cumulus cloud," Cricket said seriously.

"It does make sense, no normal cloud formation would be able to completely eclipse the sun like that," Robin agreed.

"So all we have to do is ride the Knock Up-Stream into the clouds," Luffy said.

"Yep that's pretty much what you have to do," Cricket agreed.

"WE'RE GOING TO THE SKY!" Luffy Usopp and Chopper cheered.

"Except if we miss we will fall back down, our ship will be destroyed and we will die upon impact," Robin added.

"DON"T SAY MORBIED THINGS!" Usopp yelled.

"Well it'll be alright, we just won't miss," Luffy assured.

"HOLD ON! YOU STILL WANT TO GO?!" Usopp cried out.

"Alright let's go to the sky, I wonder what kind of meat they have there," Luffy said ignoring Usopp.

Usopp could not believe what he was hearing, even though it would mean their death if they did not make to the sky. Luffy still wanted to go, he suddenly got an Idea.

"Luffy we can't go, the Merry is to heavily damaged; besides how will we know when the Knock Up-Stream appears?" Usopp asked.

"That's easy, the Knock Up-Stream always appears in the same place at the same time…it actually goes off five times a month," Cricket claimed.

"Okay but we have a few days until the Log resets. We don't know when the Stream will erupt," Usopp tired.

"Don't worry it'll erupt tomorrow morning," Cricket assured "and as for your ship we can repair and reinforce it for you,"

"Really, thanks," Luffy said happily.

Usopps jaw dropped at this offer, it looked like they were going to the sky no matter what.

"See Usopp everything is fine, we'll be fine," Luffy said happily.

Sanji poked his head out of the house.

"Hey foods done!" he called out.

"FOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDD!" Luffy cheered and ran into the house.

"Wait a minute," Usopp tried.

The other straw hats followed him ignoring Usopps pleas for them to listen.

"JUST STOPPP!" Usopp yelled out.

Everyone stopped and looked at him.

"How can you be so calm about this, we could die and none of you seem to care?" Usopp reasoned.

"Nah we'll be fine," Luffy grinned.

"But there might not be a sky Island…we'll die for nothing,"

"We won't know unless we try, besides it's impossible to change Luffys mind," Nami pointed out.

"Plus it was in his journal," Robin added.

"But that's just it, Noland was a liar. And this guy is his descendant how do we know he's telling the truth?"

Cricket walked up to Usopp and stopped right in front of him, he stared down at the cowing sniper.

"Your right, Sky Island is a myth and there is no proof it exits. I don't believe it exists either," Cricket said "However you're the ones who came looking for it, I just gave you my theory on where it could be and how to get there,"

"But your sending us to our deaths," Usopp urged.

"I'm not forcing you to go, you're the ones who decided that already," Cricket pointed out "now lunch is ready, and it's not good to let the food get cold,"

Usopp watched as Cricket walked into his house and the other straw hats went with him eager to eat the food that was provided for them. Usopp did not feel like eating and he could not understand why the others still wanted to go to Sky Island even if it meant their deaths.

Usopp walked in and sat down as Sanji started to serve out the food, Shoujou brought out the heavy Sake and it was not long before lunch turned into a party, it turned out that Cricket, Masira and Shoujou could not hold their liquor.

As the day went on the party got rowdier, Usopp quickly lost his negative attitude and joined in, Zoro got into a drinking contest which was fairly one sided and Cricket showed off all of his gold. Nami instantly fell in love with it, the only one who was not joining in was Robin as she sat by herself reading Nolands Journal.

"The City of Gold is in the skulls right eye…what does that mean?" Robin asked herself.

"Don't know, I still haven't figured it out," Cricket said.

Robin looked up to find Cricket standing above her and looking down at the page she was on.

"You don't know?" Robin asked.

"No, but it's the last entry so it must mean something," Cricket said.

"Perhaps it refers to a land mark or something in the area," Robin suggested.

"I thought that too but there are no skull like land marks or anything to do with skulls on this island…unless you count passing pirate ships," Cricket claimed.

"Then can you be sure that this is the Island that Noland discovered?" Robin asked.

"It is, the gold here and the wildlife matches what is described in the Journal. It's too identical to be a coincidence," Cricket answered.

"For a few pages Noland mentions a large golden bell," Robin said.

Luffy looked over at them.

"Yes according to the journal it's half the size of a mountain and makes the most beautiful sound. I would like to hear it just once, I have often dreamed of finding it but so far I haven't," Cricket said regretfully.

Luffy took another bite of food but focused on Cricket and listened in to what he was telling Robin.

"You mentioned the wild life being the same, what does that mean?" Robin asked.

"Well do you remember that bird statue I showed you earlier? Those birds are found on this Island," Cricket said.

"Really?" Robin asked.

Cricket nodded.

"There called South birds and they only ever face south, even when their flying in a different direction their heads always point south. They've been used for navigation since ancient times and…" Cricket explained but suddenly trailed off.

"And what?" Robin asked interested.

"OH SHIT!" Cricket yelled out in panic.

The party stopped and everyone looked at him.

"What's wrong boss?" Masira asked.

"You lot need to find a South bird," Cricket panicked.

"A what?" Usopp asked.

Cricket ran to his closet and pulled out the golden bird stature.

"A South bird. They look like this and you need one if you want to get to the sky," Cricket claimed.

"Why would we need one of those?" Zoro asked.

"Because the Knock Up-Stream occurs directly south from this cape," Cricket claimed "Your Log Pose is still pointing to the sky and regular compasses don't work in the Grand Line,"

The straw hats stared at him in confusion and then Nami realised what he was saying.

"Holy crap he's right," Nami cried "If were sailing for a certain part of the ocean and not land we won't know which way is which,"

"That's why you need to capture one of these birds, they always point south. You can use it to navigate," Cricket said.

"You mean we won't take it to the sky without one?" Luffy asked fearfully.

"No, we're more likely to miss our chance," Nami claimed.

"Oi old man, where do we get one of these magic birds?" Luffy asked urgently.

"They live into the forest south of here, you can see it from outside my house," Cricket said.

"Alright let's go bird hunting," Luffy said and dashed out the door.

"Well he's certainly eager," Marisa claimed.

"Right you lot, head to the forest and we'll start modifying your ship," Cricket said.

The straw hats got up and headed to the merry to get nets and other things they could use for catching the bird. Once they were ready they were about to head off when Sanji approached Cricket.

"Hey how dangerous is the forest at night?" Sanji asked.

"As about as dangerous as it is during the day, why?" Cricket responded.

Sanji nodded and walked up to Connor who was getting lessons from Usopp on the best way to capture a bird…it was all lies of course but Connor listened anyway.

"So when you're close you yell 'In the name of Captain Usopp I capture you,'" Usopp shouted boldly "And then you bring the net down on top of it,"

"Wouldn't that just make it fly away if I announce that I'm capturing it?" Connor asked.

"Ah but once it hears that you're doing it for the great Captain Usopp it'll let you capture it," Usopp claimed proudly.

"Yeah sure it will," Connor said skeptically.

Sanji walked over to them.

"What's going on here?" he asked.

"I'm teaching Connor the best way to capture birds," Usopp said proudly.

"More like scare them away," Connor corrected.

"Well stop because he's not coming," Sanji said.

"What?" Usopp asked.

"Why?" Connor whined.

"Because we'll be wandering the forest at night and we don't need you getting lost," Sanji said.

"Shouldn't you be telling this to Zoro then?" Connor asked.

"Connor we're looking for a bird at night in a forest, we're likely to get separated and we really don't need you getting stuck, lost or eaten by some predator that lurks in the dark," Sanji said.

"Wait…there are predators in the forest?" Usopp asked fearfully.

The cook ignored Usopp.

"Look just stay here and help these guys with the ship repairs," Sanji said.

"But I don't know anything about ship repairs," Connor claimed.

"I know but it would be one less thing to worry about if you stayed here," Sanji reasoned.

Connor understood what Sanji was saying but he did not want to be left behind, he wanted to go with the others as he knew staying put would be boring as he had nothing to do.

"Fine I'll stay here," he pouted.

"Good boy, we'll be back before you know it," Sanji said.

"Hey maybe I'll stay with him," Usopp offered.

"Oh no you're coming," Sanji said, he grabbed Usopp by the nose and started dragging him towards the forest.

The other straw hats headed off and Connor looked over his shoulder to the Saruyama Alliance and sighed. He walked over to see if he could help, Cricket had him help move tools and supplies that they would need out of the house but once that was done Connor sat out of the way and watched them begin work on the Merry.

'This is boring….I bet the others are having the time of their lives in the forest,' Connor thought to himself.

* * *

In the forest the straw hats had split up into three groups to give a better chance of finding the South bird. Luffy and Chopper went together, Robin went with Zoro and Sanji and Usopp were with Nami.

However there search was not going so well, Luffy and Chopper got distracted and quickly found themselves being chased by wasps and bees along with Praying Mantis who could cut down trees with its pincers.

Usopp learned that both Nami and Sanji were afraid of insects as they had stumbled upon a Tarantula nest and despite Usopps claim that Tarantulas were docile creatures they still ran off in fear…only to run into a giant slug.

Zoro had gotten into a fight with a swam of giant Grasshoppers and was getting increasingly pissed off at the bugs as they kept coming. Robin was impressed by their persistence and Zoro thought they were mocking him.

The straw hats regrouped in a small clearing to catch their breaths.

"So anyone find a South bird yet?" Usopp asked once he had his breath back.

"We saw one, it dropped bee hives and wasp nests on us," Luffy said, he and Chopper were covered in stings.

"This forest is very persistent," Robin commented.

"Yeah it's like the forest is out to get us," Nami agreed.

"Damn Grasshoppers, I'll show them," Zoro hissed.

"What's up with moss head?" Sanji asked.

"He's convinced that the large human sized Grasshoppers we met are mocking him," Robin answered.

Sanji stared at Zoro in surprise.

"Well it's not that hard," Sanji agreed.

Zoro glared at Sanji.

"What was that?" he growled.

"You have to be pretty stupid for bugs to mock you," Sanji said.

"Funny coming from a man who screams at a higher pitch than Nami," Zoro shot back.

"Say that again," Sanji dared.

"I heard three high pitched screams and yours was the highest," Zoro claimed.

"That's it our dead," Sanji said.

"Bring it on you B rated cook," Zoro said and drew his swards.

The two jumped on each other and began to fight. Luffy laughed while the others just sighed, suddenly a South bird landed on the tree above them.

It looked like the statue that Cricket had shown them only with purple feathers and bright green wing tips. It cried it's bird cry.

"You will never catch me, I rule this forest and you're all idiots," Chopper translated.

"Well that's rather rude," Robin said.

The bird cried again.

"I'll give you this one warning leave my forest or die," Chopper continued.

Suddenly two arms sprouted out of the south bird and wrapped themselves around the birds wings, a third arm sprouted form the tree and threw the bird to the ground; the straw hats blinked and looked over at Robin.

"What? If I can see it I can grab it," Robin claimed.

"Well now that we have our south bird let's get out of this creepy forest," Nami said.

"What about Zoro and Sanji?" Luffy asked.

The two were still fighting completely oblivious that the others were leaving.

"Leave them, they'll figure it out eventually," Nami said and walked away.

* * *

 _Back at Crickets house_

Cricket, Masira and Shoujou were working on the Merry when another ship approached Connor was sitting against the house outside wall and looked over to the ship. Nine figures disembarked and approached the house, three female and six male.

The leader was a tall man with tan skin and short unkempt blond hair. He wore white pants, a green sash with markings, and a pink sleeveless shirt with a navy blue pirate captain's coat over the top.

He was flanked by another man with shoulder-length blue hair and wore a purple-tinted visor over his eyes. He also wore a white-furred coat over his bare chest, red-and-white striped gloves and pants with the same pattern alongside a gold belt. On his chest was a tattoo of a smiley face with a cancel symbol; he had the same symbol on his belt.

'Who are these guys?' Connor wondered as he watched the pirate crew approach.

The man with the captains' coat surveyed the house and the occupants who were looking at them surprisingly; he burst out laughing.

"Ha Ha Ha Ha what a dump, you'd think with all the gold these losers would have got a proper house," the man who was clearly the leader laughed.

'Gold?' Connors thought as his eyes went wide; he gripped his sword just in case.

"It's the middle of the night, what do you want?" Cricket demanded.

"Me I want your gold of course," the leader said.

"Then go find your own," Cricket said.

"Ohh here that, they expect us to find our own," the man with the visor said.

The leader just laughed again.

"The thing is old man I already have, I'm taking your gold as my own," the leader grinned evilly.

"Who are you?" Cricket asked as his eyes narrowed.

"The name is Bellamy and I will be robbing you tonight," Bellamy grinned evilly.

"If you're looking for a fight we'll give you one," Shoujou said bravely.

"But don't underestimate the Saruyama Alliance. We won't give you our gold," Masira warned.

Sarkies take them out," Bellamy ordered.

"You got it," the blue haired man answered.

Sarkies and the rest of the crew ran in and charged at the Alliance, Sarkies went after Cricket and jabbed at him using a boxing fighting style but Cricket easily blocked the blows. Cricket then kicked Sarkies hard in the chest and the pirate was thrown back and knocked down.

Connor glanced over at Bellamy and the pirate just stood there, none of his crew had bothered with him as they were focused on Masira and Shoujou who swiftly took the rest of the crew out.

'Hmph not very strong for pirates,' Connor thought 'I bet Buggy would be more of a challenge,'

Sarkies got back up and started and started spinning a big Kukri looking knife in circles and charged at Cricket but Cricket countered with a well-timed blow to the other pirates hand and the knife flew out of Sarkies hand and landed several feet away in front of Bellamy.

"Children shouldn't play with sharp things," Cricket commented.

Connor smiled, he was right this crew was weak and there was no need for him to get involved.

"Well then it's time for my performance," Bellamy said.

Connor looked over at the captain as he crouched down and his legs toured to springs.

"Spring-Snipe," Bellamy cried out and he lunged himself off the ground.

He flew and hit Masira square in the spine, the salvager cried in pain and he went down. Bellamy kept going; he grabbed Masira's head and used it to bounce off towards Shoujou. Masira flew back and crashed on the ground while Bellamy punched Shoujou in the face.

"What….a devil fruit?" Connor panicked.

Cricket was stunned by the power and Bellamy launched himself at Cricket but the diver dodged and Bellamy flew towards the Merry, he used the ship to launch himself back at Cricket causing the whole front to break and fall off.

Connor stared at the damage don to the Merry and Bellamy punched Cricket in the jaw knocking him down. He then landed nearby with a satisfied grin on his face.

"Heh, how do you like the power of the Bane-Bane no Mi?" Sarkies mocked as he stood over the fallen fighters.

"Hey boys, finish them off," Bellamy ordered.

Connor watched in horror as Bellamy's crew beat up the already defeated Saruyama Alliance. Once they were done it was clear that they would not be getting back up again.

"Hey, what do we do with the kid?" Sarkies asked when he noticed Connor.

Connor placed his hand on his sword and got ready to fight.

Bellamy looked at Connor.

"Leave him, no point in wasting energy on a useless brat," Bellamy snorted.

Bellamy crew got back up again and Connor watched as a few headed into the house, without thinking Connor drew his sword and quickly sliced them across they're backs before they could enter.

"You're not getting that gold," Connor said seriously.

Bellamy and his looked at Connor; they were surprised that he would attack them.

"Oh and who's going to stop me?" Bellamy asked.

"Me," Connor declared and got into a defensive stance that Zoro had taught him.

"I'd like to see you try kid," Bellamy goaded.

Just then cricket pushed himself up and turned to face the pirates.

"You punks have no right to my gold," Cricket wheezed out.

"Still talking…I'll finish you off," Sarkies declared as he ran up and with his knife drawn.

Cricket saw the attack coming but was too injured to move, just before the knife struck Masira moved in front of Cricket and took the blow for him. A huge cut went straight up the salvagers back and he collapsed to the ground with blood pouring out.

"M…Masira," Cricket whispered in shock.

Shoujou having seen his brother fall to Sakies started to use his soundwave powers but Bellamy shut him up by launching himself at the sonar king, Shoujou flew through the air and crashed into the wooden castle sided of the house before landing in the ocean with a splash; he floated to the surface.

Connor stared at the fallen Alliance members and then turned his attention back to Bellamy.

"Now then do you still want to stand in my way?" Bellamy asked.

"I'm not moving," Connor said defiantly.

'If he launches himself at me I can get him with my blade…he'll lose his powers and then I can finish him off,' Connor thought.

Connor waited for Bellamy to launch himself at him but the pirate captain didn't, instead he walked slowly up to Connor and stopped in front of him, He did nothing but look at him.

Bellamy bent squatted down to Connors eye level and looked directly at him, Connor waited for an attack but none came.

"You're either really brave or really stupid, so you even know who you're standing up too?" Bellamy asked.

"Just some ass hole that has no guts and no business being a pirate," Connor answered.

Bellamys eyes went wide with anger and he reeled back a punch but instead of hitting Connor the boy blocked the attack and the pirate captain hit his blade. The second he touched it he felt himself get weak and start to lose his strength. He quickly pulled away and started at Connor.

"W…What?" Bellamy grabbed.

"What's wrong afraid to fight a little kid?" Connor grinned.

"Sarkies, get him," Bellamy ordered.

Sarkies was quick to obey and engaged Connor in a sword fight, though Connor was easily able to block and counter every move Sarkies made.

'This guy is nothing compared to Zoro,' Connor noted.

Suddenly Sarkies put on a big grin, he stopped fighting and jumped to the left, as soon as he moved Bellamy flew at Connor and hit him square in the stomach into him. The force of impact caused the boy to drop his sword and Connor felt a few of his ribs brake as he felt the full force of the attack though his small body. The sheer force behind the attack cased Connor to fly back through the wall of the houses and warned on the ground serval feet away.

Connor couldn't move due to the pain and was struggling to breath; Bellamy walked over to him and lifted him up by the throat.

"Not so tough without your little sword are you?" Bellamy mocked.

Connor weakly glared at the pirate.

"What do we do with him?" Sarkies asked.

"I have an idea," Bellamy grinned.

Luffy and his crew were walking back to Crickets house, they were feeling practically proud of themselves for catching the South bird, now that they had it they could go to Sky Island and Luffy was so excited that he could not wait till morning.

"I wonder if Cricket and his monkey friends are done with the Merry?" Luffy asked.

"We're almost back, we'll see when we get there," Nami said.

"We should help them if they need it, it is our ship after all," Usopp added.

They walked a bit father and when the hose came into view the saw it was almost completely destroyed with Cricket and his alliance were badly hurt and lying on the ground not moving, Shoujou was in the ocean floating on his back.

Usopp freaked out when he saw the damage done to the Merry.

The straw hats ran up to them and Sanji franticly scanned the area for Connor who was left behind.

"Where's Connor?" Sanji asked urgently.

Nami ran into the house while the others helped Cricket Masira and Zoro swam out to get Shoujou. Chopper immediately got to work on

"In here!" Nami cried out.

The straw hats ran inside and there was Connor he looked badly hurt and his sword was through his right shoulder holding him up against the wall.


	36. Jaya Pt 5

_**A.n I own Nothing.**_

 _ **Also special thanks to fictionmaster96 for inspiring this story, without his original One Piece of Eden fic this story would probably never have taken off. So to fictionmaster96 i tip my hat to you sir.**_

* * *

The Straw Hats ran over and Zoro pulled the sword out of Connors arm, the boy fell to the ground leaving a smeared trail of blood on the wall.

"CHOPPER, GET IN HERE NOW!" Sanji screamed.

Chopper came running in and when he saw Connor he ran over to him. Thankfully the blade had not pierced an artery so he was in no danger of bleeding out. Chopper instantly bandaged the boys arm up, while he was doing it Connor eyes opened and he looked up at the Straw Hats.

"S…S…S…Sorry I couldn't stop them," Connor said weakly.

"It's alright, I'm sure you did your best," Usopp said.

"Who did this kid?" Zoro asked.

Connor weakly pointed at the opposite wall, the Straw Hats turned and saw Bellamys mark painted on the wall. Zoro walked up to it and then glanced at Luffy; he had been pretty quiet this whole time.

Once Connors arm was bandaged Chopper shifted to his human form and carried him outside, he sat the boy down against a part of the house that was not torn apart and went over to the Saruyama Alliance and went back to treating them.

Luffy looked at Connor with a very serious expression.

"L…L…Luffy, H…H…He took all the gold," Connor said weakly.

Luffys face became very dark and he looked at the Saruyama Alliance members who were starting to come round. Cricket sat up and looked very disappointed.

"Old man, are you okay?" Usopp asked.

"Yeah…nothing done that won't heal," Cricket said.

"Cricket…I'm sorry to tell you but you're gold is gone," Nami said sadly.

"I figured, those idiots said they were going to rob me," Cricket sighed.

"But all your gold is gone, it took ten years to collect that and…" Usopp started.

"MIND YOUR OWN DAMN BUSSNISS!" Cricket shouted causing Usopp to stop.

"Our gold being stolen is our problem, don't go meddling in the affairs of others," Cricket said, he then looked over at the Straw Hats damaged ship.

"You'll never get to the sky in a ship like that…there's still time, we'll repair and reinforce it for you," Cricket said as he tried to stand up.

"Oi what are you doing? You're badly hurt, you need to rest," Chopper urged.

"I have a job to do, I won't let my weakness stand in the way of getting you to Sky Island," Cricket declared.

"You're injured, you need lots of rest," Chopper argued.

"Chopper let them be," Luffy ordered.

"But…" Chopper started.

"Come boys, stop being lazy we have a lot of work to do," Cricket claimed.

Masira and Shoujou both staggered up, they headed over to the ship and began to start the repairs Cricket joined them while Chopper protested but no one was listing to the doctor. Luffy watched them work for a moment and his face turned dark.

"Robin if I follow the coast, will I get back to the town we were at today?" Luffy asked.

"Yes, you'll reach it," Robin assured.

"Need a hand?" Zoro asked.

"Nope, stay here encase something happens," Luffy ordered and he began to walk off.

"Hey brat, you had better not be meddling in my business," Cricket warned.

Luffy didn't respond.

"Luffy be back in three hours, if you're not back by dawn we will have missed our chance to go to Sky Island," Nami warned.

"Got it," Luffy acknowledged and ran off.

The Straw Hats watched Luffy run off and once he was out of sight Robin looked at the Merry, she doubted that it would be repaired on time especially with the injuries Cricket, Masira and Shoujou had. Robin walked over to the coat and looked up and down it.

She didn't see anything other than the ocean; she closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them again. Robin turned and started walking down the coast.

"Oi where are you going?" Zoro demanded.

Robin glanced back at him and gave him a smile before she continued on.

"Creepy lady," Zoro muttered.

Usopp walked over to the Merry, he looked at it sadly and then up at the Saruyama Alliance.

"Hey…need an extra hand?" Usopp asked.

Cricket looked over to him.

"Didn't I just tell you to not mind your own business?" Cricket scolded.

"Well yeah but that's our ship, so it's our business to fix it," Usopp pointed out.

Cricket sighed, he could not argue with that.

"Fine grab a hammer," Cricket agreed.

Usopp nodded and came on board he went into the men's room and came back out with a tool box. Sanji spied Masira struggling to lift some wood; the cook went over to him.

"Here let me get that for you," Sanji said and lifted the pile of wood with ease before carrying the supplies over to where they were needed.

Zoro found some rope and tied the south bird to the mast so it would not escape and then he went over to the broken figure head and lifted over his shoulder with ease.

"Hey where do you lot want this?" Zoro asked.

Crickets jaw dropped when he saw Zoro carry the Merrys front like it was nothing. Soon all of the Straw Hats were helping the Saruyama Alliance fix the ship with the exception of Robin and Connor. Connor was still sitting watching as Chipper had told him to rest his arm, even with his enhanced healing it would still take some time before it would be usable again.

* * *

Robin walked down the coast in the direction Luffy had run but she changed dirction and eventully found herself in a cove that housed two familiar pirate ships. The crews of both ships were sitting around and looked like they were having a late night party.

"Hello boys," Robin said, announcing her presence.

The two crews stopped what they were doing and looked up at her.

'GHAAAA IT'S YOU!" Masira's crew yelled.

They recognised Robin form there encounter with the Straw Hats earlier.

"Oh good you remember me," Robin smiled.

"If you're here for the captain than he's not here," one of Masira's men said.

"Oh I know, he's at Crickets house," Robin agreed.

The crews started at her in shock and fear.

"What did you do to our boss?" one member of Shoujou crew accused.

"Noting, we had lunch and he told us about the city of gold he was trying to find," Robin claimed.

"So…why are you here?" another man asked.

"Cricket Masira and Shoujou were injured pretty badly tonight during a raid by another pirate crew, one of our own crew was injured as well," Robin claimed.

"WHAT?!" the crews screamed.

"My captain has gone to get back the stolen gold; however Cricket has promised us he'd repair our ship,"

"They're doing it while their injured aren't they," one of Masira's crew asked.

"Yes, seeing as there is no talking them out of it I thought you lot might want to help. After all the more help they get the less stress they will put on their injuries," Robin pointed out.

"They're at the cape right?" one man asked.

Robin nodded.

"Alright boys let's go help the bosses,"

"YEAH!" the crews cheered.

Robin watched as the two crews banded together, they all left the cove carrying as much ship repair supplies as they cold and headed to Crickets house.

* * *

 _Mock Town_

The town's people were in shock, it had been a regular night at the local tavern when Luffy had barged in demanding that Bellamy return the gold he had stolen. Naturally the pirate refused and a fight ensured with Luffy the victor.

Luffy took the stolen gold and headed back to the cape to meet up with his crew leaving a stunned town and the Bellamy Pirates behind.

"I told you, I told you those posters were real," a drunken man said.

He had come into the bar not long before Luffy and had taken Bellamy out in a single punch everyone his wanted poster, but no one had listened.

The man was still going on about how they should never have beaten Luffy up earlier in the day. Suddenly the man felt someone tap him on the shoulder.

"Hey, can I see that poster?" a light hearted but deep male's voice asked.

The man turned and saw that there was a larger man standing behind him. The man was a massive; his body was round with relatively thin limbs. He had a big mouth with several broken or missing teeth a crooked nose and a very large and hairy chest and torso. His hair was long, thick and woolly; it fell down the back of his neck, underneath a black bandana and he also had a small scruffy black beard

He wore an open buttoned white shirt with rolled up sleeves, green trousers with black line patterns, a yellow sash around his waist and classic black swashbuckler boots complete with large bronze buckles.

"Here," the drunken man said and handed over the poster.

The larger ma looked at it and grinned.

"Well…well…look whose worth something," the larger man grinned wickedly.

"Find something interesting Teach?" a muscle man, who was dressed like a champion, asked.

"Take a look," the man known as Teach said and handed over the poster.

"He…Heh…Heh…Ha Ha Ha," the champion laughed "Looks like we found our prize,"

"Yeah we've been looking for a man worth at least 100,000,000 belis and now we find one on the same Island," Teach said "Gather the crew, we've got a bounty to collect,"

* * *

Back at Crickets house the Straw Hats were helping repair the Merry but it was very slow, Chopper was treating the Saruyama Alliance members as they worked because they would not sit still.

"We'll never get this done by dawn," Usopp sighed.

Zoro had to agree with Usopp, there was just too much to do and too little help. He then noticed that Robbin was coming back and Zoro went up to her.

"Where have you been, give us a hand," Zoro said.

"My apologies but I went to get some help," Robin smiled.

Zoro and the others then noticed Masira and Shoujou crews were approaching as well, they took one look at the merry and got to work.

"Hey boss, we're here to help," the two crews announced.

Cricket, Masira and Shoujou looked up at their crews and huge smiles appeared on their faces.

"Don't just stand there, get to work," Cricket ordered.

The three crews worked through the night and with the extra help the Merry was completed on schedule, though it look very different once it was done. The Merry now had wings a tail and a chicken crest on its figurehead.

Zoro and Nami were not impressed with the design. Sanji walked over to Connor who had fallen asleep some time ago and gently shook him awake.

"Oi time to wake," Sanji said and gently nudged the boy.

Connor opened his eyes and looked up at the cook tiredly.

"We're leaving soon," Sanji said.

Connor rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and nodded, he stood up careful not to knock his sling. Chopper decided to check over Connors injury while they waited for Luffy to return and he was relieved that it was heling nicely.

"So dose it still hurt?" Chopper asked.

"Yes…though it's not as bad as before," Connor answered.

"How long do you think it will take for it to fully heal?" Chopper asked.

"Another few hours at least

"It'll take at least three hours to get to where the Knock upstream is, sill that be enough?" Chopper asked.

"Should be," Connor claimed.

Chopper nodded. Luffy came back about thirty minutes later, he was out of breath and had a sack tied to his back.

"Hey Luffy did you get Bellamy?" Zoro asked.

"Yep, took him out in one punch," Luffy smiled.

Well while you were off playing hero, look what we did," Usopp said and gestured to the ship.

Luffys eyes sparkled with excitement as he saw the upgraded Merry.

"SO COOL!" Luffy cheered "does this mean we can get to Sky Island now?"

"Yep the Merry has a flight mode now so let's go," Usopp claimed.

"Right, just a second," Luffy said.

Luffy walked over to Cricket and he put the sack in front of him.

"Here you go, it's all there," Luffy said with a grin.

Cricket looked at the sack and then back at Luffy.

"Didn't I tell you to stay out of my business?"

"I did, I went to get payback for Connor but I saw your gold and though I'd save you a trip," Luffy claimed.

Cricket sighed.

"You'd better get on board your ship, you're already running late as it is," Cricket claimed.

"Right, bye old man hope you find the city of gold," Luffy said and he ran up and jumped aboard the Merry.

The Merry set out with Masira and Shoujou ships as they were going to guide the Straw Hats to the location of the Knock-Up-Stream. Once they were out at sea, Luffy started playing with the south bird and trying to make it point in another direction.

Connor came over and examined the strange bird as well; he'd never seen one like it. The bird tried to point in another direction to mess with the crew but wound up pointing south anyway. After a few hours of sailing the ships approached a familiar dark cloud.

"Oh that's not good," Masira said.

He then ran over to the railing.

"Hey Straw hat, the Cumulus cloud is earlier than expected, we need to find the current quickly," Masira said.

"What's that mean?" Luffy asked.

"I think it means the knock upstream is going to appear early and if we don't find it we won't be going to Sky Island," Robin said.

"WHAT?!" Luffy panicked.

"All divers get in the ocean and find the current," Shoujou ordered and his men dove into the ocean.

Shoujou cried out with his sonar powers and a minute later three divers resurfaced.

"Echo conformed strong ocean current at 12 o'clock," the first one said.

"Large creature at 9 o'clock, most likely a Sea king," the second one said.

"Opposing ocean current at 10 o'clock, it might be a whirlpool," the third said.

"That's it, all divers get back up here. All ships turn to 10 o'clock," Shoujou ordered.

The divers climbed back on board and the three ships started to turn, once they were on the correct heading the waves started to get rougher and it began to rain. The Saruyama Alliance ships seemed fine but the Merry struggled due to its' small size.

"We're going to sink," Usopp cried.

Masira threw a couple of grappling hooks that latched onto the merry and the smaller ship stabilized somewhat, though it was still quite rough.

"We'll take you into the current, but after that you're on your own," Masira said.

"Nami, what does the Log Pose say?" Robin asked.

Nami looked at the Log on her wrist and it was pointing directly up.

"It's pointing directly above us," Nami answered.

"That means we're right below, the Sky Island," Robin said.

"Really?" Luffy asked excitedly.

"Yes, it should be directly above us," Robin reasoned.

Suddenly the grappling hooks came loose and Masira's ship changed direction.

"What are you doing?" Chopper panicked.

"You're in the current now, we have to pull out before it's too late," Masira answered.

"Wait what do we do? How will we find the Knock-up stream?" Nami asked.

"Don't worry about that, just stay in the current and get as close to the centre of the whirlpool as possible,"

"Whirlpool…What whirlpool?" Nami asked.

"N…N…Nami," Connor said with fear in his voice.

Nami looked over at Connor and he was pointing out at something, Nami followed what his arm and saw a giant whirlpool.

The Straw Hats jaws dropped at the sheer size of it. Usopp, Nami and Chopper began to panic.

"Good luck and remember go with the flow," Masira said and his ship pulled out of the current.

"NNNOOOOO WAIT COME BACKKKK!" Usopp yelled in terror.

"NO ONE SAID WE HAD TO GO INTO IT!" Nami cried out.

"Luffy lets turn back, sky Island is just a legend," Chopper pleaded.

"A legend?" Luffy asked.

"Yeah that's right it doesn't exist, after all what island requires a massive explosion to get to it?" Nami said.

"A mysterious Island that's in the sky and the only way to it is through a giant whirlpool…how can I possibly ever turn away form an adventure like that?" Luffy asked excitedly.

"STOP ENJOYING YOUR SELF!" Nami screamed.

"Nami we're about to go over the edge," Connor cried.

"What…why is this so fast?!" Nami panicked.

The Merry had indeed reached the edge of the whirlpool and was about to go over but it suddenly stopped. Luffy looked around he was hoping for something more dramatic.

"Oh thank god," Usopp breathed a sigh of relief.

"Perhaps we should pull in the sails so we do not move while waiting for the Knock-Up-Stream," Robin suggested.

Nami agreed with the archaeologist and had Zoro and Sanji pulled in the sails.

Suddenly they herd Masira and Shoujou voices yelling, the Straw Hats turned back to the two ships and saw that a third ship was heading in there direction.

This one looked like a giant raft and had a black pirate flag with three skulls lined up next to each other, tow were on the side and one was facing the front and six bones that were crossed into a star shape behind them.

"Who are they?" Usopp asked.

He pulled out his binoculars and saw a man standing on the front of the ship.

"Hold it Monkey D. Luffy, I'm here for the 100,000,000 on your head," Teach called out.

"My head? Luffy asked in confusion "What's he going on about?"

He leaned over the railing.

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!" Luffy yelled at the top of his lungs.

Teach held up two pieces of paper, Usopp saw them through his binoculars and looked at them.

"Oh Luffy you've got a new bounty," Usopp said "its 100,000,000 belis,"

"Really?" Luffy asked getting excited.

"Yeah…looks like Zoro has one too," Usopp responded.

"Nice how much?" Zoro asked.

"Only 60 million," Usopp said.

"Oh is that all?" Zoro asked disappointed.

"Why are you disappointed?" Nami scolded.

"Oi what about me do I have one too?" Sanji asked.

"Mmm nope sorry," Usopp said.

"You sure? Look harder," Sanji urged.

"Yep just Luffy and Zoro," Usopp confirmed.

"Damn it how dose moss head get one and I don't," Sanji complained.

"It must've gone up after Alabasta," Nami realised.

Suddenly the ship started to rise and the water around the merry began to gently lift the ship up.

"Now what?" Nami asked.

"It's starting," Robin announced.

"Everyone brace yourself, grab onto something," Zoro yelled and the Straw Hats quickly grabbed onto varies part of the ship.

The ocean rose until it was the size of a small mountain but then it went back to normal sea level.

The Straw Hats waited and then a massive explosion shot the ship upwards and a huge column of water filled the area connecting the sea to the sky. Black beards ship was torn apart instantly.

The Merry sailed vertically up the pillar of water and Luffy was the only one fully enjoying himself, the others were frightened and were hanging on to the ship for life. Robin Nami and Connor were standing on the wall of the cabin.

"THIS IS AMAZING!" Luffy cried in happiness.

"NO THIS IS CRAZY!" Usopp cried back.

"I can't believe it, we're actually sailing upwards," Connor said as he peered over the edge of the cabin.

"Connor don't fall off now," Robin advised.

Connor backed away from the edge. Nami looked around and was curious as to why she could feel the wind.

"Hang on…the hulls coming loose," Sanji said "we'll fall back down,"

"What no!" Chopper panicked.

"Unfurl the sails," Nami ordered.

The Straw Hats looked at her in confusion wanting an explanation.

"Just do it," Nami said.

Robin used her powers to reopen the sails but the Merry did not seem to stay on the pillar.

"Nami it's not working, what do we do?" Luffy panicked.

"We could start prying," Robin said calmly.

"No we'll make it," Nami said.

The Merry came fully of the pillar but instead of falling down it soared higher into the sky.

"W…W…We're flying? How is this possible?" Usopp asked.

"The force form the explosion has created a hot air current, pair that up with the sea water and you've got yourself the exact same conditions for sailing on a normal sea. If it's got a sea and wind we can sail on it," Nami said.

"So we're still going to Sky Island?" Luffy asked.

"Yep, we're just not sailing there, we're flying there," Nami assured.

"ALRIGHT SKY ISLAND HERE WE COME!" Luffy cheered as the Merry ascended into the clouds.


	37. Skypia Pt 1

_**A.n I own Nothing**_

 _ **Please Review**_

* * *

Eventually the Merry pierced through the peak of the clouds, and into open sky, there was nothing but a sea of clouds, they were so dense that the Merry was floating on top of it. Thanks to the modifications and the reinforcements from the Saruyama Alliance the Merry had survived relatively intact.

"Well, that was so much fun!" Luffy declared "Let's do that again,"

"NO!" Nami, Usopp and Chopper screamed.

"Is everyone alright?" Zoro asked, taking a quick head count of the crew

The response was generally just affirmative grunts.

"It does not appear that anyone fell off during the ride up and plummeted to their deaths," Robin answered with a straight face.

"Stop saying those things," Usopp begged.

"Wow! Look at this place! It's amazing! It's so white!" Connor said in amazement and wonder as he ran over to the railing and looked at the horizon.

The crew had to agree, it was a beautiful and perfect sight, though they did not see anything that looked like an island.

"It… it's just a canvas of clouds? Why aren't we falling through?" a flabbergasted Nami asked.

"Clouds float and boats float, so we float, right?" Luffy reasoned with a grin.

Nami punched him for that answer.

"I don't think it's quite that simple," Sanji said.

Zoro looked around and frowned.

"So…where's the sky Island?" he asked.

Nami checked the Log Pose.

"Well, the Log Pose is still pointing up… so maybe we haven't gone high enough yet," She answered, though she was really unsure.

"If the Log pose is still pointing up than Skypiea must still be above us," Robin claimed.

"But how do we get higher? Is there another Knock up stream?" Connor asked.

"I hope so," Luffy said enthusiastically.

"I doubt there'd be one up this high," Nami answered.

"Awww," Luffy whined in disappointment.

"Hey Nami this is the sea of clouds mentioned in the journal right?" Usopp asked.

Nami looked over to him.

"I would assume so yes," Nami answered.

Usopp suddenly tore off his cloths and did a heroic pose.

"Then I the brave Captain Usopp shall be the first to take a swim in this unknown ocean," Usopp declared.

"ALRIGHT USOPP!" Luffy and Chopper cheered.

"Hang on…what was that?!" Nami yelled.

But it was too late Usopp dove into the cloud sea ad Luffy and Chopper cheered him on. A couple of minutes passed and Usopp did not resurface.

"He's taking a while," Sanji commented.

Suddenly Connor had a terrible thought.

"Hey we're in the sky right?" Connor asked.

Luffy looked down at him.

"Yeah so," Luffy responded

"Well if we're in the sky does that mean there's no bottom to this sea?" Connor asked.

The Straw Hats all turned and stared at him for a second and they processed what he was saying.

"USOPPPPPPPP!" Luffy screamed in panic.

"Luffy quick stretch your arm through the clouds," Sanji cried.

Luffy threw his arm into the clouds hoping to grab the missing sniper, Robin used her powers to create several eyes on the rubber captains arm.

Thanks to the combined efforts of Luffy and Robin as they managed to find Usopp who had swam straight through the cloud layer, which as Connor had feared did not have a solid bottom.

As Luffy's arm returned back through the cloud layer with Usopp, two massive creatures burst out of the clouds, one was a giant blue eel, and the other was a giant octopus-like thing. Both were several hundred times the size of the Merry.

The two creatures set upon the Merry immediately, but were quickly stopped by a flurry of kicks from Sanji against the Eel, and a fast moving blades from Zoros attack to dispatch the Octopus while

As soon as the pirates hit the creatures burst like balloons.

"What the hell?" Luffy asked as he lay an unconscious Usopp down on the deck.

"What? Why… do… I feel…so…tired?" Zoro asked immediately afterwards, his breathing had become very heavy and he was extremely exhausted.

"I think it might be the air up here, it's much thinner, and that makes it harder to breath" Sanji theorized, he too looked to be feeling the effects of exerting himself

"That's probably it, so take it easy, at least until you get used to it." Chopper advised,

He jumped up onto ships railing and scanned the horizon with binoculars, looking for any signs of life or something, to help them find their way. It was at this point that an odd fish jumped out of Usopps trousers and flayed around on the deck.

"What's that?" Luffy asked and picked up the fish.

Robin and Nami came over and looked at it curiously.

"I believe it may be a sky fish," Robin said.

"You men like the one Noland wrote about?" Nami asked, remembering the journal.

"That's right," Robin answered.

She handed the fish to Nami and the navigator got a good look at it.

"It certainly is weird," Nami agreed and handed the fish to Connor.

"Why is it so flat?" Connor asked.

"The creatures here must've evolved to adapt to be lighter so they could live in the clouds," Robin theorised.

Connor nodded and held onto the fish a bit longer.

"Give it here," Sanji said.

Connor obediently handed the fish over to the cook and the fish was instantly cooked, served on a plate and handed off to Luffy.

"MMM this is tasty," Luffy said happily.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Nami screamed.

"I sautéed it," Sanji answered

"Can I try a piece?" Connor asked.

Luffy handed the fork to Connor and the boy took a bit of the fish.

"WE WEREN'T DONE LOOKING AT IT YET!" Nami yelled.

Robin could not help but giggle at the crew antics.

It was at that point which Chopper finally spotted something. It appeared to be another ship, he was about to inform the others of this discovery, when the ship suddenly burst into flames. Chopper immediately attempted to warn the crew of imminent danger.

"GuystherewasashipandthenitsplitBOOMandthena guywasflyingawayand" Chopper panicked but was interrupted from his incoherent rambling by a light knock on the head form Nami.

"Chopper, calm down, no-one can tell what you're saying," Nami said and bonked him on the back of the head to attempt to get some clarity out of him.

"I think I know what he's talking about anyway!" Zoro said sharply before putting one hand towards his swords, it was immediately clear why. "There's someone out there!"

"And he's coming right for us!" Connor cried.

Out on the cloud-ocean, what appeared to be a man wearing a large tribal mask carrying a Bazooka, he was gliding along the clouds towards the Merry very quickly. The masked figure lept off the clouds and aimed his Bazooka at the ship, he fired and Luffy blew up his stomach and reflected the shot.

The man landed on the deck and Zoro rushed in drawing his sword however the masked man skilfully jumped over the Horizontal strike and kicked Zoro in the face with such force he was sent flying back to the other side of the ship.

Sanji attempted to kick the invader but easily dodged the attack; he then sent Sanji flying into the wall of the cabin, with his own attack. Luffy stepped up next and threw a strong right hook, which the man weaved around and responded by slamming the rubber Captain's head into the deck.

He looked at the remaining members and stepped towards them, Connor drew his sword but and Robin got ready to use her powers but before anybody could move an older voice was herd.

"Leave them alone, you fiend!" came a yell from above.

The Straw Hats looked up to see what appeared to be an old man in very heavy armoured figure riding a large pink bird.

The armoured figure came out of nowhere and swooped down at the masked man, his lance drawn and ready to strike. The masked man looked up at the man and quickly fled the ship; the bird and the armoured man descended down towards the Merry and landed in front of the pirates.

Luffy Zoro and Sanji all sat up and looked at the man in surprise.

He was an old man of average height with long white hair, moustache, and beard. He wore a full set of metal Armor with a dark red shirt, and brown pants could be seen in parts that the Armor did not cover; wears a long dark blue cloak that is yellow on the inside and at the back.

"Are you all alright?" the man asked in a kind and concerned voice.

"Yeah…thanks," Zoro said.

"Not that we're not thankful or anything, but, who are you?" Nami was the one to ask the question which they were all pondering,

"My name is Gan Fall and I am the Sky Knight." The man replied proudly.

Luffy got up and Ran straight up to Gan Fall with sparkles in his eyes.

"Hey old man, that's a really cool suit of Armour," Luffy said excitedly.

Gan fall was unsure how to respond to this.

"Ummm…thank you," he said hesitantly.

"I used to have a suit of Armor like it…but Nami destroyed it," Luffy said and pointed at the Navigator without even looking at her.

"She…She destroyed it?" Gan Fall asked in surprise.

"Yeah in one punch," Luffy claimed, he then leaned closer to the knight.

"If I were you I'd keep your distance, it's painful to see your Armor broken," Luffy whispered.

Gan Fall looked at Nami in surprise and back to the rubber captain.

"I'll keep that in mind," Gan Fall said.

Nami however was quite furious that Luffy was spreading rumours about her and walked up to the captain; she hit him on the head.

"DON'T START SPREADING RUMOURS ABOUT ME!" Nami yelled angrily as she started to beat Luffy up.

Gan Fall was not sure if he should interfere or not, in the end he decided that to not get involved while Nami beat up Luffy. He then noticed Connor was looking at his bird curiously.

"Is there something wrong child?" Gan Fall asked.

"I…I was just curious about your bird, I've never seen one like it before," Connor said.

"Ah well Pierre is a one of a kind, he is very loyal and a faithful steed," Gan Fall said as he patted his bird.

"Pierre?" Robin asked.

"Yes that is his name," Gan Fall claimed.

The crew looked at the strange bird.

Pierre was a large pink bird with a red polka dot pattern on his body. He had solid red feather on the sides of his head, the back of his head, and on his horn-like ears. He had bandages wrapped around his torso and a yellow beak.

"So what does a Sky Knight want with us?" Robin asked.

"Ah yes back to business. I am here to offer you a service," Gan Fall said.

"What service?" Zoro asked.

"There are many dangers in the sky and for the small fee of 5,000,000 Extol I will give you this," Gan Fall said and held out a whistle.

"A whistle…that's it?" Zoro asked.

"What's and Extol?" Connor asked.

"I am telling you that this is a bargain you will not regret, one blow of the whistle and I Will come to your aid, no matter what. Of course should you want to keep the whistle you will need to pay me another 5,000,000 Extol," Gan Fall explained.

"You're more of a Mercenary than a Knight," Sanji said flatly.

"Well even I have to make a living too," Gan Fall tired.

"I thought Knight were heroic and chivalrous," Luffy said disappointed.

"You fools this is a bargain and I will not take one Extol less," Gan Fall claimed.

"But….What's and Extol?" Robin asked.

Garn Fall looked very surprised by this.

"Wait….you mean you really don't know? Didn't you come here by the way of the High West?" Gan Fall asked.

"The High West…wait you mean there was another way up here?" Nami asked in shock.

"Yes, normally people use that route, how did you get up here?" Gan Fall answered.

"We came with the Knock-Up-Stream," Luffy answered.

"People still use that route? I thought no one would be stupid enough to try that," Gan Fall said.

Nami started beating Luffy up again.

"THERE WAS A WAY FOR US TO GET HERE SAFELY AND BECAUSE YOU DID NOT WANT TO WAIT WE COULD HAVE DIED!" Nami screamed.

"I didn't know," Luffy cried back.

"OF COURSE NOT IT'S CALLED GATHERING INFORMATION YOU IDIOT!"

The rest of the crew and Gan Fall ignored Nami and Luffy while the Knight explained the other route and how it was just as dangerous as the one they chose. He then gave them the whistle for free out of respect before flying off.

The Straw Hats decided that it was dangerous to stay put and the Merry started to sail over the white sea of clouds, it wasn't long before Chopper noticed a waterfall of Clouds and the Merry headed towards it.

As they approached the waterfall the way was blocked by large thick clouds, Luffy being Luffy decided to jump on them and discovered not only were they solid abut also very bouncy. He was joined by Usopp and chopper and He then pulled Connor on to the clouds for some fun.

While they were playing on the bouncy clouds Usopp noticed a cannel traversing through it and was able to guide the Merry through to a gate at the base of the water fall.

"Heaven's Gate…What do you suppose that means?" Zoro asked.

"Isn't that the gate you go through when you die?" Robin asked.

Usopp suddenly became very pale.

"You mean we're dead?" Usopp asked.

"I guess…we could have died in the knock up stream and that's why we ascended to heaven," Robin said with a straight face.

"NOOOOO!" Usopp cried.

"Relax we're not dead," Zoro claimed.

"How do you know?" Sani asked.

"Because if we were you would not be here, perverts don't get into heaven," Zoro claimed.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Sanji said.

"You're more likely a tag along, if we are dead you'll be barred from heaven and fall straight down to where you belong," Zoro said casually.

"Well I'll just kick your ass and take your place," Sanji shot back.

"It doesn't work like that,"

"I doubt they'd let you in if you lost!"

"That's it bring it on!"

Zoro and Sanji started another one of their fight s and the crew ignored them. As the Merry sailed under the gate and old woman wearing a pink dress came out and started taking photos of the crew; however what really surprised the crew was that she had wings on her back.

"W…W...Wings…She has wings," Luffy cried out in shock.

Zoro and Sanji stopped fighting to look at the woman.

"Is she an angel come to guide us to our final resting place?" Usopp asked fearfully.

"I thought angels were supposed to be cute," Sanji said.

"And it's that kind of attitude that will lead you to hell," Zoro commented.

This started the fight again.

"Hello travelers I am the gate keeper, Amazon," the woman introduced herself "Ere you here for Sightseeing or fighting?"

"Well we're not here to fight so Sightseeing," Nami answered.

"I want to go to Sky Island," Luffy said.

"What do you mean are we here to fight?" Connor asked.

"Well either way it doesn't matter, if you want to go to Skypiea you need to pay the entry fee of 1,000,000,000 Extol per person," Amazon claimed.

"1…1,000,000,000…?" Usopp asked flabbergasted.

"There's that Extol thing again," Connor said. People that's

"It must be the currency here," Robin commented "So for 8 people it's a total of 8,000,000,000,"

"So how much is that in beli?" Usopp wondered.

"Um...by some chance we didn't have that much money…" Nami started.

"You can pass," Amazon said.

"R…Really?" Sanji asked.

"Yes, I am not a guardian or a warrior; I am only here to listen to your will. If you want to go in you can or you can turn around and go home," Amazon claimed.

"Okay then we want to go in," Luffy said.

"Very well, there are 8 of you right?"

"Yes but…" Luffy started.

Suddenly two large pincers burst out underneath the ship and latched onto the wings. A Large prawn creature emerged from under the ship.

"What the hell?" Zoro asked.

Connor instinctively activated his sight and the creature was glowing white.

"I'd hold on if I were you," Amazon warned.

Connor looked over at the woman and his eyes widened at what he saw. But before he could tell the others the prawn sped of towards the waterfall and everyone on the merry grabbed on the railings to prevent themselves from falling off.

The prawn sped up the waterfall which curved around in a swirly path and the prawn carried the ship all the way up to Skypeia. The entire way up Connor held on, he should be enjoying the ride like Luffy but he could only think of one thing.

Why did Amazon glow red?


	38. Skypia Pt 2

_**A.n I own nothing**_

 _ **Sorry about the lack of update last week, it was really busy. Work got very hectic and I had a three birthday parties to attend, there was just no time left to write.**_

 _ **Please Review**_

* * *

The Merry burst out of the clouds at high speed and the large Shrimp that had carried the ship up the winding path let go of the Merry and then landed back on the winding patch before swimming back down to Havens gate.

The Merry landed with a splash on the cloud sea and the straw hats regained their balance after such a fast paced ride which Luffy wanted to do again. Before them lay an island unlike any they had seen before, with a surface weaved of thick white clouds, marble buildings sat upon different clouds and were all connected by stair cases, the closest place to land looked like a beach surrounded a few by palm trees and some foliage.

The Merry sailed up to the shoreline of the island all of them were in awe of the strange island.

"Is this…is this Skypiea?" Robin asked herself.

Never in all her life did she expect to see an island in the sky. When the Merry reached the beach Luffy was the first one to disembark, he jumped off the ship. Usopp followed fearing that Luffy would fall through the clouds like he nearly did and they did not know what affect this kind of sea had on fruit users.

Fortunately Luffy landed on solid ground and he and Usopp ran up on to the beach to play. They were followed by very eager Chopper and Connor. Sanji and Nami who changed into a beach wear before also joining in the fun. Zoro dropped the anchor and it landed on some slid clouds.

Robin was however confused as to why the straw hats were so carefree, they knew nothing of this place or what dangers await yet the straw hats still acted like children.

"You're not going?" Zoro asked, as he approached the archaeologist.

"No it's just…how can they be so carefree and happy? Aren't they worried about the dangers or whatever maybe on this island?" Robin asked.

"Not really, Luffy never thinks of that stuff. Normally it's Nami and Usopp who worry about that but I think they're too excited to care at this point,"

"I still don't understand how charging head first into the unknown can be fun," Robin said.

"You know Luffy would call that an adventure," Zoro smirked; he jumped off the ship and headed to join the others on the beach.

At that point halfway across the beach Luffy had climbed a tree and was trying to eat a large grey pumpkin shaped fruit. Usopp was building various sculptures with the clouds and Chopper was rolling down along the beach bouncing of different cloud

Connor was looking at the plant life, curios as to how plants could grow on an island made out of clouds, Sanji picked some flowers for the girls and Nami found a few chairs made out of clouds to sit on.

Robin and Zoro came to join in whit the others and Sanji put a dark red sky flower in her hair before running off to give one to Nami. Zoro quickly found a place to nap and saw a fluffy ball on the beach.

"Hey a pillow," Zoro smiled.

He lay down on it and as soon as he did the pillow squeaked loudly and ran out form underneath him. Zoro shed hit the ground but because it was soft could it did not hurt.

"What the hell?" Zoro asked in surprise, he turned to see a small white fox squeaking angrily at him.

The fox was solid white with squinted eyes and average sized ears. Its mouth resembled a snout and the tail was long compared to the body; it was also lighter at the end.

Zoro stood up and picked the small creature up, it waved its legs angrily clearly not liking how the swordsman was treating it.

"What the hell is this thing?" Zoro asked.

Robin came over and examined the creature.

"It looks like a fox," Robin observed.

Zoro stared at the sky fox and poked it a few times in the belly, this only made the fox angrier, and the next time Zoro poked it the fox grabbed his finger in its snout and bit Zoro. It has a surprisingly strong bite as Zoro waved his hand really fast trying to shake the creature off him.

"Get it off, get it off," Zoro panicked, but the fox was stuck.

Suddenly a sound of a harp was herd; the straw hats stopped what they were doing and looked in the direction of the sound. Not far from where they were was a woman standing on a pile of clouds; she was playing a harp.

The woman was beautiful; she had blonde hair braided into two pig-tails and two antennae sticking out at the top of her head. She wore a pink dress with black, flower shaped textures that goes to her thighs red and pink striped sandals. But what made her stand out was her white wings that came out of her back giving her the classic depiction of an angel.

Sanji's eyes instantly turned to hearts at the sight of her.

"An angel…a real live angel…I must be in heaven," Sanji swooned.

"Unless that's Lucifer, because than your in hell," Robin commented.

The woman noticed the pirates and she stopped playing, she walked over to them much ti Sanjis delight, however she passed the cook and stopped in front of Zoro.

"Excuse me, but you have my pet," she said sweetly.

"Umm….sorry," Zoro said and held out his hand, the fox was still attached.

The woman giggled and looked at the fox.

"Su, you know you're not supposed to bite random people," the woman said.

The fox instantly let go of Zoro and dropped to the ground, it walked up to the woman and sat in front of here trying to look innocent. The woman than looked back at Zoro.

"I'm sorry about that," she apologised.

"Oh no it's not your fault, I bet moss head here did something stupid to agitate it," Sanji said quickly.

"Oi watch it," Zoro warned.

The woman giggled.

"That does not surprise me, Su can be temperamental at times, but she's normally fairly docile," the woman claimed.

"My Name is Conis," Conis introduced "did you all come from the blue sea?"

"Yep, we came to visit sky island," Luffy said.

"Well I hope you like it here," Conis smiled, she then noticed the fruit Luffy was holding.

"Are you trying to drink that?" she asked.

"Drink?" Luffy asked.

"Yes this particular fruit is too hard to eat, so you cut a small hole in the bottom and drink it," Conis explained.

She took the fruit form Luffy and showed them, she put a straw in the newly cut hole and gave it back to Luffy. Luffy tried some of the juice and he liked it, he handed it around for the others to try some.

Nami approached her.

"Excuse me but would you mind showing us some more things? Everything here is a mystery to us," Nami said.

"Not at all, ask me anything you like," Conis answered.

Nami was about to ask some questions when Connor beat her too it.

"What's that out there?" Connor asked and pointed out to sea.

Conis looked and saw a figure was heading there way, he was on something that was gliding over the clouds at top speed.

"Oh that would be my father, he went out fishing earlier today," Conis said.

"What's that he's on?" Nami asked.

"Oh that's a Waver, there used to get around the Island quickly," Conis answered.

The crew watched as Coins's father arrived on an odd half-boat half-bike-like device. As he approached the beach he lost control and crashed straight into a tree.

"Oh dear…it happened again," the man said as he dusted himself off.

Coinis father was a man of average height. He was almost bald but has dark brown hair antennas and bushy beard covering his mouth. He wore brown and yellow robes with a light yellow collar at the top covering his neck.

"Again?" Usopp asked.

"Yes, Wavers are hard to drive and even harder to stop," the man said.

He then looked at Conis.

"Are these friends of yours Conis?" he asked.

"We just met, they came from the blue sea," Conis answered.

"Oh really? Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Pagaya," Pagaya introduced.

"Father did you catch anything good today?" Coins asked.

"Oh yes I got quite the haul, perhaps your new friends would like to join us for lunch," Pagaya offered.

"We'd love too," Luffy said happily.

"Food prepared in the sky…do you mind if I help you prepare lunch?" Sanji asked.

"Not at all," Pagaya answered.

Nami however was ignoring the conversation and had moved closer to get a better look at the Waver, it was just like the one Nolan described in his journal and Luffy had brought something similar up from the ocean.

"Before we go, how does this work? There are no sails to catch wind and no oars for rowing," Nami asked.

"Oh you use the pedals to make it go the more pressure you apply, the faster the Waver goes," Pagaya explained.

Luffy put down his drink and hopped on the Waver, he pressed he applied a small amount of pressure to the pedal and the Waver took off at an incredible speed. Unfortunately Luffy was quickly thrown off and landed in the cloud sea.

"Hey do you think the sea here has the same effect on fruit users as the one we're used to?" Usopp asked.

"Don't know, let's find out," Zoro said.

The crew watched Luffy struggle and quickly sink beneath the surface.

"I'll take that as a yes," Sanji said.

Zoro sighed and went into retrieve the rubber captain, Chopper also wanted to help but he had to be rescued by Sanji. The cook also retrieved the Waver.

Conis and Pagaya led the crew up to their house for food, Nami politely declined as she wanted to have a go at to driving the Waver. As they walked up a large staircase Pagaya explained various details of Sky Island life to the Straw Hats. Along with the two types of clouds that made up the island, the sea clouds and the solid clouds which could be cut and shaped, to make things like the staircase beneath them and even their homes.

Once they got to their house, Sanji helped Pagaya in the kitchen while Conis entertained the guests in the living room by showing the straw hats odd looking shells called Dials. She explained Dials to the Straw Hats by showing off various types of which served a variety purposes.

Tone Dials recorded sound and played it back, Breath Dials stored air currents and then released them and supposedly the largest of this type of dial was used to power Wavers. Flame Dials could store heat inside them to be used for cooking, Vision Dials which could record everything the user saw and Light Dials stored and released light, these were used as lamps.

All these explanations continued to 'wow' the Straw Hats, Chopper and Luffy played with a few Dials while Connor and Usopp also tried a few and Usopp wondered if they could be incorporated into a weapon. Not long after Conis had finished explaining the Dials Luffy Usopp Chopper and Connor moved to the balcony watching Nami ride around on the Waver.

"Aww how come Nami has such good control of that thing?" Luffy pouted.

"I want a turn," Chopper complained.

They continued to watch the Waver and then minutes later Sanji and Pagaya set down several plates at the table.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, lunch is served; here we have Sky-Island Lobster with special sauce and a side of several varieties of Sky-Island fruit which I can't pronounce." Sanji announced formally.

After setting the dishes down the crew dug into the food and it was devoured, mostly by Luffy. Sanji walked out onto the balcony overlooking the sea, he briefly scanned the horizon but he could not see Nami.

"Hey guys, I can't see Nami anywhere." Sanji sounded concerned as he said this.

"She's out there riding on the Waver," Luffy answered.

"No she's not," Sanji said, he was looking over the horizon but could not see Nami.

"Don't worry about it anyway Sanji, she's probably just gone out a bit too far, Nami's a smart girl she can take care of herself." Usopp cut into the conversation.

"Father, do you think she strayed there… she could run into trouble." Conis said concerned.

"What are you talking about?" the rubber-man asked.

"There's an island in Skypiea, under no circumstances is anyone allowed to set foot on it. It's forbidden," Conis explained.

"Could you get there on a Waver?" Sanji asked.

"Yes, it is defiantly Within Waver range,"

"What's so bad about this place? Is it dangerous?" Connor asked.

"It's sacred ground called Upper Yard," Conis continued, she then paused, searching for the right words "It's the land, where God lives."

"God?" the straw hats asked together.

* * *

 _With Nami_

Nami was still wondering out on the Waver, she had quickly mastered the art of driving the craft, and was thoroughly enjoying herself, but when she saw the crests of trees on the horizon, she quickly moved to investigate.

"What in the world?" Nami gasped as she stood in awe of what was in front of her. Nami had to pinch herself, as she gazed upon the most gigantic trees she had ever seen.

Standing over 100 feet tall before her and unlike the palm trees she had seen on the beach, these trees were planted on solid ground, actual soil, and not solid cloud. Nami did not know it but she before her was the holy and forbidden land: Upper Yard.

"Those trees, how'd they get so big? And how did so much rock and soil get up here?" Nami wondered.

Nami noticed that the edge of the Island had roots hanging over the side, she suspected that you had to climb them to get on the Island. Nami continued to stare at the Island taking in the sight and wondering how it got up here and what secrets it must hold.

She decided to get a better look at the Island and maneuvererd the Waver along it's coastline was now as followed it she heard voices coming from further up the shoreline and ventured closer towards them; the voices were being emitted from a Tone Dial.

Nami looked at the strange shell in wonder, she didn't know the specifics of what it did but she guessed that this was some form of sound recorder. The recordings however were extremely morbid, with the last recording sounded very much like the death of the user at the hands of what he referred to as God.

'God? As in the God?' Nami thought.

She was interrupted from her thoughts by the sounds of someone running towards her. Suddenly a man came running out of the forest; he spied Nami on her Waver.

"Help, please you have to help me…" the man cried.

"Umm…I don't…" Nami started.

She suddenly looked up at the sky and her eyes widened; she floored the Waver and hid behind a tree root that was hanging off the Island. A second later the man was engulfed in a massive blue pillar of lightning.

Nami stopped under a nearby large tree root to catch her breath; she could not believe what just happened. The sky was clear and lighting still came down from nowhere without any warning. Did this mean that there was a God living in the sky?

Suddenly she heard voices from above her.

"Looks like the target has been dealt with," one voice said.

"Yep good thing too, we can't have criminals running around," another agreed.

"Speaking of criminals, did you hear about those people who entered illegally?" a third voice spoke.

"Yeah, a message has already been sent to the White Berets, they'll deal with them," a fourth voice claimed.

"Do you think they'll pay the fine or do something idiotic and drastic?" the second voice asked.

"They'll probably pay the fine, if they don't they might end up like this guy," the first voice answered.

"Come on who in their right mind would do something so stupid and idiotic not to mention down right suicidal to earn the anger of Lord Enel?" the third one joked.

"Yeah you'd have to be a complete and utter moron to do that," the fourth agreed "so how many people entered illegally?"

"I think it was 8," the first answered.

Nami's eyes went wide, it did not take a genius to realise that these men were talking about the straw hats.

"Oh well it's not like we can do anything about it now, let's head back and report that the target was eliminated," the second one said.

The voices began to fade as they headed back into the Island.

Nami waited for the voices to completely fade before she fled, she headed back towards Skypiea to return and warn the crew of the potential danger.

Eventually she turned the Waver and headed back the way she came.

"Not good…not good…I have to tell the others about this. We need to leave now," Nami panicked.


	39. Skypia Pt 3

**_A.n I own nothing_**

 ** _Please Review_**

* * *

 _Conis's and Pagaya's house_

Conis had just finished explaining that God's was named Enel, she told the crew that he was omniscient and that he could see and hear everything that happened on the Island. Conis then continued to explain that Upper yard was the land of God, and that not-one of the citizens of Skypiea had ever set foot there or seen Enel himself.

"So it's a forbidden island?" Connor asked Conis innocently.

"Yes, no-one knows what truly lies on that land but Enel himself," Conis confirmed

"So it's a mystery Island then," Luffy said excitedly.

Usopp looked at his captain knowing that tone of voice and the sparkles in Luffy's eyes meant one thing: Trouble.

"NO! No Luffy! Stop getting excited, we're not going to Upper Yard!" Usopp's declared, his tone was more pleading than commanding.

"Isn't God was supposed to be all kind and stuff, would he really mind if we just visited his Island?" Luffy responded an innocent voice.

"No." Pagaya said in a surprisingly loud voice, he was futilely attempting to discourage the young man "there is a hefty punishment for stepping into God's domain, no-one to visit Upper Yard has ever returned!"

"But Conis just said that no one has ever visited it," Robin pointed out.

"I said that none of the Skypiea citizens have visited it, you're not the first Blue Sea dwellers to come here and a lot of them do go to Upper yard but never come back," Conis clarified.

The crew's eyes widened, Sanji immediately ran to the balcony began to yell for Nami to come back.

"Well looks like we're going to have to save Nami." Luffy's eyes still possessed that adventure sparkle'.

"You're just using that as an excuse to go to Upper Yard," Usopp claimed.

"Maybe," Luffy grinned.

The crew thanked Coins and Pagaya for lunch and their hospitably, Robin asked if there was a way to get back to the Blue Sea and Conis confirmed that they could go through Clouds End, but it was a failed distance for Upper Yard.

Zoro assured them that they would be fine and if it came down to it they could always fight God, Conis and Papaya looked at them like they were idiots. The crew headed back down to the beach and begun preparing to disembark, when they got there Luffy spotted something odd.

"Looks like we have company," Luffy pointed across the beach toward what appeared to be a platoon of men approaching them crawling like crabs.

"What…" Sajni started.

"The…" Luffy continued.

"Hell?" Usopp finished.

"Why are they crawling like that? Wouldn't it be easier and faster to walk?" Connor asked.

The platoon came to a halt in front of them then stood up like normal people. The apparent leader of the men stepped closer towards the crew then spoke.

He was a tall, tan man; He had black hair and wore a 'White Berets' hat. He wore a light-blue coat dropped over his shoulders, and a short sleeved purple shirt underneath. His pants have a cloud design and held up by a simple, brown belt, black boots, and a pair of small white wings on his back.

His men were wearing the same uniform as the leader.

"Well look what we have here! These must be the Blue Sea dwellers who have illegally entered Skypiea!" the man spoke.

"That's right, who are you?" Luffy asked.

"I am Captain McKinly, Leader of the White Berets," McKinly announced "and you are all criminals of Skypiea,"

"Wait…what?" Usopp asked.

"How? What did we do wrong?" Sanji demanded.

"You did not pay the entry fee at Heaven's Gate," McKinly answered.

"But the old lady said we did not have too," Luffy pointed out.

"That is correct you did not have to but in doing so you have entered illegally and are now considered criminals," McKinly claimed.

"That's stupid!" Sanji yelled.

"Now calm down, as this is a fairly common crime you can get off easily by just paying the fine," McKinly claimed.

"Wait entering illegally is considered a low lever crime?" Luffy asked.

"Indeed it happens all the time with Blue Sea dwellers," McKinly confirmed.

"So…we pay the fine and we can go about our bossiness unhindered…that's it?" Usopp asked, something did not seem right.

"Indeed, the fine is ten times the entrance fee ten times the original fee," McKinly claimed.

The Straw Hats jaws dropped that, the 8 billion extols per person, or a grand total, of 80 billion extols, which was apparently equivalent to 80 million beris.

The Straw Hats promptly expressed outrage at the massive fee.

"That's way too much!" they yelled angrily.

"This is your first warning! The White Beret's work for Mighty Enel himself, arguing with us will only increase your debts!" The Captain ignored the Straw Hats anger and appeared annoyed that the crew were not willing to pay.

Usopp then tried to talk sense into the group.

"Our Navigator keeps all the money, is it alright if we wait until she gets back before paying?" Usopp asked.

"As long as you pay, but we will wait with you," McKinly answered.

"Usopp what are you doing? You can't be serious in wanting to pay these people," Sanji demanded.

Usopp turned to his crew.

"Look for now we should stay here, if we leave, we might miss Nami. She's bound to have some beris stashed somewhere so she can pay our way out. In the meantime let's try not to upset these White Berets," the sniper said reasonably.

"I suppose it can't hurt…what could go wrong?" Sanji agreed.

Sanji then led Robin off to the side to serve here some tea, Zoro lay down for a nap and Usopp Connor and Chopper found a fishing spot.

While they were waiting Luffy brought out the damaged Waver that he had salvaged from the ship that fell from the sky. He asked if Pagaya could possibly fix it. Payga said he could as long as the Wind Dial was intact.

However McKinly took one look at the craft, elevated the crime level of the Straw Hats from level 11 to level 10, apparently due to criminal damage.

"Wait what did we do now?" Usopp asked.

"You have damaged Skypiea property," McKinly declared and pointed at the Waver.

"But that's ours, we brought it with us from the Blue Sea," Sanji insisted.

"Don't be ridicules, its common knowledge that Blue Sea dwellers did not use Wavers," McKinly snorted "This craft was clearly stolen, you are now level 9 criminals,"

Before Luffy could do anything drastic Usopp grabbed him and dragged him further down the beach to do some fishing with Chopper and Connor, it thankfully kept the trouble making Captain occupied. This worked until Usopp caught an extremely large and violent fish that attempted to eat Coins.

Luffy took it down with one punch and Sanji came over wondering how to cook it.

"Well well this is unfortunate; this is a rare and endangered species of fish. It's Capture is prohibited," McKinly said as he walked over.

"Looks tasty, Sanji cook it," Luffy ordered.

"Hmmm it's rather large…it won't fit on a frying pan…maybe we could cook it over a bonfire," Sanji mused.

"NO! WE'RE NOT EATING IT!" Usopp yelled, he did not want to get into more trouble.

Luffy however started taking bites out of the fish.

"You have broken the law against endangered species, you are now a level 8 class criminals," McKinly announced smugly.

At this point Sanji Luffy and Chopper had had enough, Sanji was about to lose patience, but thankfully Usopp diffused the situation by conniving the Straw Hats to take a nap n the beach as there was no law against that.

But apparently there was a law against snoring and they were elevated to level 6 criminals. Before any further action could be taken Nami appeared approaching the beach.

"Nami! Thank god!" Usopp screamed, "We need you to pay the entrance fee of 8 million beris!"

The Sniper only realised what he was asking after saying it out loud. Usopp had just asked Nami, the stingiest person they had ever met to fork over 8 million beris… more money than most people saw over an entire lifetime.

'Oh… this isn't going to end well,' Luffy and Sanji thought together.

And it didn't.

Nami in a blind rage slammed the Waver into the recovering McKinly instantly sending him flying.

"That's way too steep!" She shouted.

Her actions proved to be the powder keg and McKinly lost his patience with the Blue Sea pirates.

"You have been found guilty of the level 5 crime of assaulting the White Berets! Your punishment will be DEATH!" McKinly yelled as staggered to his feet.

He then signalled his men to attack; they fired arrows which appeared to emit solid clouds, which the tips and they then proceeded to skate on using the same devices that the masked attacker from the White Sea had worn.

However the Straw Hats had had enough and charged at the White Berets; the battle was over in less than ten seconds. Both Luffy and Sanji both took delight in punching and kicking McKinly in the face.

"Well that was underwhelming." Connor commented, as he sheathed his sword.

"Yeah even the marines pose a bigger challenge than these guys," Zoro agreed.

"How is he still standing?" Connor asked from where he was watching on the ship

"It is rather impressive that he is even conscious after being hit in the face by a Waver, Sanji and Luffy in quick succession," Robin agreed.

"You idiots don't know what you've done!" the McKinly grunted out from the ground.

The crew members all looked down at him, waiting for him to clarify his statement,

"You are now level 2 criminals! To be dealt with by the priests of Upper Yard themselves!" McKinly declared before passing out from his injuries.

The White Berets went into a panic over the defeat of their Captain and it was Conis that suggested that they take McKinly away for treatment. The White Berets put him on a stretcher and crawled away while carrying the stretcher.

"It would be faster if they walked," Chopper commented.

Nami decided to use this opportunity to tell the rest of the crew what had happened on Gods land, Luffy was disappointed that Nami had come back because now he had lost his excuse for wanting to go to Upper Yard.

"We should leave while there gone," Nami declared.

"But Nami I want to go on an adventure," Luffy whined.

"We can have all the adventures you want back on our own ocean," Nami said.

"But it's a forbidden land," Luffy pleaded.

"We are not going back there, I almost died," Nami warned.

"Please….what's more important adventure or your life?" Luffy asked.

Nami grabbed Luffys head and threw it towards the ground with such force that it went through the cloud layer and he struggled to get himself out.

"MY LIFE FOLLOWED BY MONEY!" Nami yelled.

"Alright everyone prepare to sail, we're going home and that's final," Nami declared.

Luffy pulled his head out of the clouds and looked towards Pagaya.

"Hey can we take the leftover food?" Luffy asked.

"Of course," Pagaya answered.

"Yay, Sanji Pirate lunch boxes," Luffy demanded.

Sanji sighed but agreed and followed Luffy to back to Papyga's house. Usopp also went back to borrow some supplies to repair the Merry.

"Hey where are you going?" Nami called after them.

"To get lunch," Luffy grinned.

"But…" Nami tried.

"Don't worry Nami-swan, we'll be back," Sanji claimed.

"You guys stay on the ship until we get back okay," Luffy called back

Connor, Robin, Chopper and Zoro watched them go for, the ship and Nami climbed aboard and changed from her beach wear back into regular clothes. She wanted to find a way to get back to the Blue Sea without Luffy noticed what they were doing but it would be difficult.

While they were preparing the ship Conis came on board to say good bye, she also told Nami about a way back down to the Blue Sea.

"A current that leads straight to Clouds end?" Nami asked in surprise.

"Yes, it's a fast Cloud Current that passes Upper yard, it's very strong so once you're on it you won't be able to get off until you reach Clouds end," Connis claimed.

"Where is this current?" Robin asked.

"It's just north of Angel beach so a lot of ships and wavers avoid it," Conis answered.

Robin looked at Conis suspiciously.

"All right, we can get on that current and bypass Upper yard" Nami declared happily "By the time Luffy realises that we're not going there it'll be too late,"

"If you're going home could you tell Luffy to hurry up?" Nami asked.

"Yes, if you raise your anchor you can go as soon as the others return," Conis said.

"Umm everyone…I'm sorry," Conis said suddenly.

"For what?" Zoro asked.

"For everything," Conis answered.

The Straw Hats looked at each other confused and then back at her.

"If is about those White Berets…it wasn't your fault," Chopper said.

Conis smiled and nodded.

"I wish you a safe trip and…good luck," Coins said and she left the ship.

Connor watched her from the ship and when Conis was a back on the beach she looked back sadly at them. Connor gave her a wave which she returned before heading into the trees to the path back to her house.

"That was odd," Robin commented.

"What do you mean?" Connor asked.

"I mean why would she suddenly tell us about a safe way back to our own sea?" Robin asked "If there was a safe way down why di

"Well you herd Conis this place hardly ever gets visitors,"

"But…if there is a safe way down why is she telling us? Aren't we criminals, wouldn't helping us escape put her and her father in danger?" Robin reasoned.

"That's a good point," Chopper added.

"Who cares, we have an escape route," Nami said waving Robins concerns off "Lets just raise the anchor and then we can leave once Luffy and the others get back,"

Nami turned around intending to get Zoro to raise the anchor but found the swordsman asleep. So she had Chopper do it instead. However as soon as the anchor was raised something hit the ship causing it to shake.

"What was that?" Nami asked urgently.

But before anyone could answer the ship started to move backwards as an alarming rate.

"What's going on…why are we moving?" Chopper panicked.

* * *

 _Conis's and Pagaya's house_

Luffy Sanji and Usopp were restocking on supplies, Sanji was making lunch, Usopp was helping himself to nails and wood and Luffy was eating Sanjis ingredients; much to the cooks annoyance. Once Usopp was satisfied with what he had he stood up and walked out on the balcony.

He spied the Merry heading away from the beach.

"LUFFYYYYY! SOMEONES STEALING THE SHIP!" Usopp panicked.

"WHAT?!" Luffy and Sanji cried out, they ran out to the balcony and saw the Merry was indeed moving away.

Sanji quickly grabbed Usopp's binoculars and looked through them, he could see Nami and the others were holding on to the railing she looked scared.

"Not good…not good," Sanji hissed.

"What are they hurt?" Usopp asked worriedly.

Sanji turned to Usopp and looked at him with tears coming from his eyes.

"Nami's wearing a shirt," he cried.

"WHY ARE YOU ONLY LOOKING THERE!" Usopp yelled angrily.

"I don't get it…where are they going?" Luffy asked.

"They're going to be sacrificed…Heavens judgment has begun," Conis said gravely as she entered the room.

The pirates turned around and looked at her.


	40. Skypia Pt 4

**_A.n I own Nothing_**

 ** _Please Review_**

* * *

Luffy, Usopp and Sanji stared that her in shock, Conis looked down in sadness and shame.

"S…S…Sacrificed?" Usopp stuttered.

"Yes…the thing that took your ship is the Super Speedy Expresses Shrimp," Pagaya answered "Whatever it takes goes to the sacrificial alter in Upper Yard and is made an offering to Enel and his priests,"

"NAMI-SWAN AND ROBIN-CHAN ARE GOING TO BE OFFERD TO GOD?!" Sanji panicked.

"You do know that Connor, Zoro and Chopper were taken too right?" Usopp asked, he had a feeling that Sanji was only worried about the girls.

"I know but if Nami-swan is sacrificed her shirt will come off and I won't be there to see it," Sanji reasoned.

"WHY ARE YOU STILL FOCUSING ON THAT?!" Usopp yelled.

"That dirty perverted god…how dare he do this," Sanji said angrily.

"Your one to talk," Usopp said.

"Umm excuse me but there may be away to save your friends," Pagaya interrupted.

The three pirates looked at him eager for an expatiation.

"But…won't they be offered up to Enel?" Usopp asked.

"Not right away, I've heard that those who are taken to the Alter receive one of the two forms of heavens judgment," Pagaya said.

"Two forms of Judgment?" Luffy asked.

"Yes Lord Enel has two different types of Judgment Sacrifice and Ordeals," Pagaya explained "Your friends are going to go through the first form of judgment… Sacrifice their lives are now in god's hands,"

"But you said we could save them," Usopp claimed.

"You can, your friends are essentially hostages at this point. Consequently the ones who are truly being judged are you three," Pagaya said.

"Us…what do you mean?" Luffy asked.

"Well…if I had a map it would be easier to explain," Pagaya said.

"Oh I have on," Usopp said and pulled the map that they got from the salvaged ship out.

Pagaya took it and walked over to the table examining the map; he and Coins sat down and opened the map on the table. Luffy Usopp and Sanji also came over and sat down.

"It's a bit old but it does tell us what we need to know," Pagaya said, he pointed to the town on the map "We're here and your friends have been taken here,"

Pagaya pointed to a small stone alter drawing on the map north west of town.

"This is the sacrificial alter, in order to get there you need to take a boat through Upper Yard," Pagaya claimed.

"Why can't we just take a boat and land on the Island and walk there?" Usopp asked "It would be easier,"

"You can't reach the alter by walking, this map is old so it does not have the Milky road on it," Pagaya answered.

"Milky Road?" Luffy asked.

"A series of Cloud Rivers that run through Skypeia and Upper Yard. There are a lot of different paths you can take but all of the Cloud Rivers that traverse Upper Yard lead to the Alter," Pagaya answered. "I have also herd that the milky road will lead you though many deadly traps and has man eating fish living in it,"

"MAN EATING FISH!" Usopp panicked.

"So if we want our Nakama and ship back we have to go through the front door," Sanji commented.

"So our ordeal is to survive the Milky Road…if we do we get our friends back," Usopp said.

"Yes but that is not the end of it, in order to survive you must also face the Priests unimaginable power," Pagaya said gravely.

"So we go to the Upper Yard, kick the Priests asses and we get our friends back," Luffy summarised "We're going to need a boat,"

"You can borrow ours, it's docked at the pier," Conis said.

"Alright, things are finally getting interesting," Luffy said happily.

The remaining Straw Hats packed up the supplies and lunch that Sanji had made, once they were ready to go Conis offered to take them to a port in the town beyond the beach.

Once they entered town Luffy began to look through the windows of all the shops around them, at one point he disappeared finding a dial shop on a higher cloud, he was not gone long as he soon fell from the sky landing in front of the group moments later.

As they walked through town Sanji, noticed that none of the townspeople even reacted to their captain's antics. He also noted that the residents were giving them a very wide berth and were eyeing them suspiciously.

"Why is everyone avoiding us like this?" Sanji finally asked.

"Word's probably spread that we're criminals." Usopp reasoned, "They probably don't want to risk being classified as 'friends or associates' of us."

They finally arrived at pier, it took longer than it should have because Luffy would not stop playing around and the straw hat were amazed at all the different types of boats.

"These are cool," Luffy stated, he eyed a big luxury one that he liked the look of.

"Which one is yours Conis-chan?" Sanji asked.

"It's just over here," Conis said and led the crew further up the pier.

Their faces fell when they saw the boat they were taking. It was a small craft that looked like it had been made form a life raft; it had a black birds head and a red and white striped umbrella covering the small sitting area.

Luffy expressed disappointment that they'd be riding a small gondola which was apparently based on a crow.

"I know it's not much to look at but it has two breath dials and it will get you to where you're going," Conis claimed.

"No, I want that one," Luffy said and pointed to the boat that he had eyed earlier.

Sanji beat him up for being rude and once Luffy's face was almost completely unorganisable he apologised and agreed to take the Little Crow boat.

"Right, if you take the gate marked as number two you it will take you straight onto the Milky Road," Conis explained while pointing outwards towards one of gates that led on to their own respective narrow cloud currents.

Luffy couldn't help but notice that Conis seemed nervous; she had been faking smiles and been down right terrified since they left her house.

"Conis, we appreciate everything you're doing for us but are you and your father going to be okay?" Luffy asked concerned.

"Now that you mention it...everyone in town has been avoiding us, but you and Pagaya have been helping us. Doesn't that make you an accomplice or something?" the sniper pondered concerned.

"Conis, you should have just told us where the boat was and where to go, we'd have been fine," Luffy agreed, he was genuinely concerned that his crew was risking Conis and Pagaya's wellbeing.

"No…that's…that's not it." Conis claimed nervously, she sounded like she was on the verge of tears.

"Then what is it?" Luffy asked.

Conis dropped to her knees.

"I've been leading you here…I showed you the path to take and provided a boat for you for a reason,"

At that, Usopp and Sanji overheard one of the townspeople nearby exclaiming fear that Conis was about to say something she shouldn't. Much to the pirate's confusion, everyone around them moved farther way from their group…even further than before.

"I… I was the one who called the express crab…" Conis finally admitted.

"What!?" Sanji and Usopp exclaimed, instantly outraged.

"You called that thing to take Nami-swan and Robin-chan away?" Sanji yelled.

"There are other people on our crew!?" Usopp yelled at Sanji.

"It's the duty of all the citizens of Skypiea…we ensure that all criminals end up on Upper Yard…I'm so sorry..." Conis explained and tears started to fall from her eyes.

"Wait… so Enel and his Priests are making you to do this?" Luffy asked.

Conis nodded.

"So why tell us at all!?" Luffy yelled furiously, "Now your life is in danger too!"

Conis was shocked. Luffy was not yelling at her with anger but with concern for her life. Even though she had betrayed them Luffy was still concerned.

"That's right." Sanji confirmed "we were heading Upper Yard anyway, you could have just performed your duty as a citizen without jeopardising your own life; it's our lives are on the line not yours!"

"I just couldn't bear deceiving you all, you've been so-" Conis continued with tears in her eyes.

She was interrupted by a bizarre change in the sky, white light started to emanate directly overhead. A light humming sound could also be heard.

"What's that?" Usopp panicked.

It matched Nami's description of Enel's supposed power. The Straw Hats and Coins looked up into the sky and watched as the light gathered. Sanji suddenly got a very bad feeling and he grabbed Usopp and ran away from the area.

"Run that thing is going to hit us!" He cried out.

Luffy Grabbed Coins and ran the opposite direction of his two crew mates as a massive pillar of lightning blasted downward from the light, a resounding crack sounded soon after.

The target was obvious, as the lighting headed straight towards Luffy and Conis. Luffy and Conis had a look of absolute horror on their faces as the lightning seemed to follow them; chasing them as if it had a mind of its own.

In an instant both the rubber man and the Skypiean disappeared, consumed by the monstrous power of Enel's lightning. Leaving a massive crater hammered deep into the ground, about 30 metres across with steam and smoke that was produced by the impact.

"Luffy?!" Usopp screamed out in pure terror.

"Conis-chan?!" Sanji yelled.

They desperately scanned the crater for their friends but they were nowhere in sight.

"Luffy…did you get killed?" Usopp asked fearfully.

"Don't worry Blue Sea dwellers. They are safe!" A voice called from above the group.

Usopp and Sanji looked up to see a familiar Old man in armour riding an odd pink pegauses, with Luffy and Conis draped over the back of Pierre like rag-dolls.

"Gan Fall!" Usopp cried happily.

Though he and Sanji were surprised to see the sky knight; Luffy jumped down from the bird.

"Thanks old man!" Luffy said gratefully.

"I thought you'd be busy protecting the people coming up to the lower White Sea," Sanji stated.

"That is where I'd usually be, but I heard that there was a group of Level 2 criminals passing through town and I wanted to make sure that none of the citizens of Angel Island got hurt by Enel for helping them," Gan Fall explained.

"Well I'm glad you did, we would have been toast if you hadn't come along," Luffy smiled.

"Indeed, I will take this lovely young lady to my home. It's out of Enel's range so she'll be safe there," The knight made sure that Conis was secure on the bird.

"Ok, but you better take care of Conis-chan!" Sanji growled.

"What are you three going to do in the mean-time?" Gan Fall asked, ignoring Sanji's aggressive tone.

"We're going to Upper Yard," Luffy said with excitement.

This seemed to surprise Gan Fall.

"You have seen this Islands true nature and yet you still chose to confront it?" Gan Fall asked in surprise.

"Well yeah, there our friends," Usopp said.

"Plus they're probably out having an adventure on Upper Yard without us," Luffy claimed "If we don't catch up than there won't be any adventure left for me,"

Gan Fall blinked and Luffy as he could not understand the captains' logic…or any logic behind what the rubber man said.

"Luffy we are going to save our friends not looking for an adventure," Usopp reminded him.

"Can't we do both?" Luffy asked.

"I see…well I wish you luck on your…quest," Gan Fall said and he and Pierre flew off with Conis.

Luffy and Sanji got into the Little Crow and Usopp pushed them off, the small boat started and headed out the number two gate leading towards Upper Yard.

With Luffy stood at the front, half leaning off of the Waver's bird figurehead, eagerly looking ahead for whatever dangers faced them. However that eagerness was short lived once Sanji Luffy and Usopp made the realisation on the flaw of traveling on such a tiny vessel.

"This thing is so slow," Luffy complained.

It wasn't an unfair observation, the Little Crow just not that fast even with two breath Dials it seemed to crawl along the narrow road they were travelling.

Eventually they came around a large bend on the road and the gasped in awe at what they saw it was the Island known of Upper Yard.

"Guys?" Usopp asked, bemused, "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?!"

Luffy and Sanji could only nod, with widened eyes.

"That's…That's Upper Yard?" a bewildered Sanji exclaimed, "Those trees… they're massive!"

Luffy could only agree, the trees here were all around 70 metres tall at least and unlike the rest of the Skypiea these trees were in fact growing form Soil and not clouds

"Alright we made it to the entrance," Luffy cheered, staring ahead the tree-line approached.

As they passed the first trees on the road they also passed two large torches on either side of the road, with spears crossed through the centre of both, and what appeared to be the skull of an Ox or something fastened just above on both,

"I guess this is the point of no-return," Sanji observed, he then turned to Usopp "Want to head back?"

"Yes," Usopp declared.

"Too late," Sanji said.

"Stop messing with me!" Usopp yelled angrily.

Not long after they entered Upper Yard the small boat passed some odd stone idols which scared Usopp. They then heard some loud bird calls from the jungle, which scared the sniper even more and he began to look around the large forest for the birds but didn't see them.

"Guys….do you hear that?" Usopp asked fearfully.

"Yeah it's a forest, animals live in forests," Luffy pointed out.

"But they sounded close….what if the animals here are the size of the trees," Usopp panicked.

"Oh I hope they are, that way we won't go hungry," Sanji grinned.

Further up ahead they came across saw what appeared to be wreckages of ships which had been sliced in half, which seemed to scare the living daylights out of Usopp and put the rest of the crew on edge.

"What do you think happened to these ships?" Sanji asked.

Immediately after the cook had asked that a massive bladed pendulum swung down from the trees on their right, missing by inches and slicing one of the wrecks into even smaller pieces, the crew stared in horror however it was not only one pendulum.

"THERE'S MORE COMMING!" Usopp screamed as he hunkered down on the deck of the Crow.

"Paddle like crazy!" Luffy ordered in response.

Usopp, Sanji and Luffy begun to paddle like crazy as more and more pendulums swung down and they desperately avoided them.

Eventually the blades of death stooped as it appeared that they had cleared the pendulum trap. The Straw Hats breathed a sigh of relief that it was over, however their relief was short lived as hundreds of sharpened wooden stakes suddenly were fired at the group form the trees

Sanji was able to deflect many of the stakes as Usopp tried to get the boat to speed up and Luffy did his best not to be hit by the sharp pointed objects that would pierce his rubber body.

After a few minutes of the Straw Hats managed to get out of rage of the wooden stakes, just when it appeared that they had finally navigated their way to safety a bladed metal wheel came flying at them out of nowhere only barley missing them.

As Usopp steered the boat away, the object bizarrely appeared to turn around and fly at them again. It was soon followed by four more spinning blades of death.

"That's it I've had enough of this," Luffy declared. He ran to the back of the boat and stretched both his arms backwards into the air.

"GOMU-GOMU ROCKET!" Luffy yelled as he brought his hands down into the river.

The little crow was launched into the air and the spinning blades were unable to follow them, the boat landed several kilometres further down the river and the Straw Hats got on guard for whatever came next; but nothing came.

"Looks like we passed the traps," Usopp said relived.

"Yeah…no wonder no one comes back from Upper Yard," Sanji agreed and he sat down.

"Well we haven't met those Priests guys yet, so I doubt were done yet," Luffy said.

Usopp and Sanji groaned at this, Luffy was right; Enel's four priests were still a head. They continued down the Milky Road and it appeared that they had entered the part with the man eating fish. Fortunately these were easily dispatched by both Luffy and Sanji.

Finally after what had seemed like hours the Little Crow came across something odd. In front of them blocking the path was a massive stone head, similar to the idols they saw earlier.

Only there were four smaller heads, each one had a hollowed out entrance to a tunnels. Each head had something written above the entrance.

from left to right they read as "Ordeal of Swamp, Ordeal of Iron, Ordeal of String and Ordeal of Balls," Usopp read out "What do you suppose that means?"

"Mabye these are the ordeals Pagaya was talking about," Sanji suggested "he did say that all the rods on Upper Yard led to the Alter,"

"So…which one do we take?" Usopp asked.

The intent of the stone was clear; they would have to pick which ordeal they would take on.

The crew started to debate which would be the best to take.

"Ordeal of Swamp? That must have water in it, probably not the best pick since we have Luffy with us," Sanji reasoned.

"Going by that I guess we can't take the Ordeal of Iron either…especially if swords are involved," Usopp responded "but they all sound threatening to me,"

"What about the Ordeal of Balls. I like Balls," Luffy suggested, oblivious as to how his suggestion came out.

"You could misinterpret a lot from that sentence" Sanji joked.

"Huh? What do you mean? Balls are fun," Luffy stated innocently.

"Never mind," Sanji sighed. It would take too long to explain a joke about sexual preferences to someone as oblivious as Luffy.

"We should make the choice quickly; the gates are right on top of us." Usopp pointed out.

"Let's go with the Ordeal of Balls, it sounds like fun," Luffy declared.

Sanji and Usopp did not have any better Ideas and the Ordeal of Balls did sound the least threatening, so Usopp turned the ship to the far Right and as they went through the dark tunnel Luffys mind began to wander.

"Hey, what if this is one of those games?" The captain suddenly asked, with contemplative look on his face.

"Games?" Sanji questioned.

"Yeah, you know, like there's one correct choice and all the other choices are wrong…"

"What? There was a wrong choice? What would the wrong paths lead to?" Usopp panicked and the sniper desperately wanted to know the answer.

Luffy was silent as he contemplated the answer, a moment later he spoke again.

"Well…if you choose the wrong one, you fall off the island," Luffy finished.

He laughed at Usopps reaction to this information.

"Why would you say something so preposterous?!" Usopp shouted.

He punched Luffy on the top of the head.

"We're ten thousand meters in the air! I don't how many times your life could flash before your eyes during that kind of fall and I don't want to know!"

"You're both being childish," Sanji added. "That would never happen,"

It was at that point that the Crow finally emerged at the light at the end of the tunnel; the three pirates were momentarily blinded as their eyes adjusted to the change in light. When all of them had adjusted, they looked around, there were no trees in sight on either side, and the Milky Road had disappeared from beneath them.

Time seemed to slow down for just one silent second as they all processed this.

'Ten thousand metres above in the air,' was the last thought that went through the crews minds.

They looked at each other and upon seeing the expression on each other's faces. They let their feelings on the situation become known.

"AAAAARRGH!" 'They screamed as they fell off the Island.


	41. Skypia Pt 5

**_A.n I own Nothing._**

 ** _Happy Easter Evryone._**

 ** _Please Review_**

* * *

 _The Going Merry, Sacrificial Alter_

The Going Merry had arrived at its destination; the Legendary Super Speedy Shrimp had perched the ship upon a massive stone structure, surrounded by a cloud-lake. The lake was surrounded by huge trees on all sides and the Straw Hats looked around.

Connor climbed on top of the railing to get a better view.

"Where the hell are we?" Zoro asked.

"It looks to be some sort of Sacrificial Altar." Robin guessed as she observed the stone Alter.

"S…S…Sacrifice?" Connor asked fearfully. He knew exactly what that meant as his people had often offered animal scarifies to the sprits that he and his village had believed in.

"Oh thank goodness," Chopper breathed a sigh of relief "I thought we were going to be cooked alive,"

"Well weather we will be cooked alive or not the fact does not change that our lives are now being offered up to God himself," Robin claimed.

Nami and Chopper's faces turned dark, Chopper fell off the side of the ship in shock, realising what Sacrifice meant. He rolled all the way down the steps that prefaced the building, and towards the water.

"Chopper!" Connor cried out.

Robin sprouted arms on the last step and caught the tiny doctor before he could hit the water. Chopper breathed a sigh of relief that he would not be drowning today.

"Nice one Robin," Nami praised.

However the relief was short lived as a massive shark like creature burst out from the water, it was a dark blue and more elongated then regular sharks and fifty times the normal size.

Nami and Chopper both panicked at the sight of it espesaliy since the shark launched itself at the tiny hybrid deer. Zoro jumped off the Merry and slammed his foot into the head of the shark slamming its mouth shut before it could eat the doctor.

While the creature staggered he grabbed Chopper and threw him back up to the ship; the doctor was caught by Connor.

Chopper had knocked Connor off the railing onto the deck and he held onto the boy tightly and with tears in his eyes from his near death experience. The shark having recovered from Zoros first attack roared and knocked the swordsman into the lake.

"ZORO!" Nami screamed on horror.

Connor put Chopper down and climbed back on the railing.

"What happened?" He asked urgently.

"Zoro got eaten by that shark thing," Nami cried.

"WHAT!" Connor and Chopper both screamed.

"Don't worry he didn't get eaten," Robin said calmly.

"You sure?" Chopper asked.

"Yes, if he got eaten the clouds would be red with his blood," Robin pointed out.

"DON'T SAY SUCH MORBID THINGS!" Nami yelled.

The Straw Hats watched the water for any sign of Zoro or his blood to pollute the lake but nothing happened. A minute later the shark that had tried to eat Chopper and knocked Zoro into the lake burst out of the water with a massive bump on its head.

Zoro resurfaced too and swam back to the Alter; he climbed the steps leading up to the Merry and the shark floated on the top of the lake.

"Zoro you're okay!" Chopper cheered.

"Yeah yeah piece of cake," Zoro said waving the doctor off, he took off his shirt and started to wring it out.

Nami went into the cabin and came back out with a towel and a fresh dry shirt for Zoro, she tossed them down to him and he dried himself off.

"Zoro, why did that shark thing have a bump on its head?" Connor asked, he was curious that he did not see any sword wounds on the defeated shark.

"Oh, I couldn't swing my swords properly through the water…so I punched it instead," Zoro answered casually.

"You…punched it?" Nami asked.

"Yeah, the result would have been the same either way," Zoro shrugged.

"Oh by the way, swimming back or across to the shore is definitely out of the question." Zoro claied "there's like a hundred more or so of those things in there,"

Serval fins appeared out of the lack and started circling the Altar and the defeated shark; Zoros actions had attracted their attention.

"There are more of those things?!" Nami exclaimed. "In fact, what even are those things?"

"They sort of look like Sharks," Chopper said.

"Sharks that live in the sky," Connor added.

"Sky-Shark." Robin concluded.

Zoro finished drying himself off and put the new shirt on, while he was down in front of the Going Merry he spotted that the hull was badly damaged. Zoro was suspected that when the Legendary Super Speedy Express had taken them the shrimp had punched holes in the side of the hull.

"We're not leaving on the Merry either, we'll take on water if we try," Zoro claimed, eliminating another potential escape option.

"So 'heaven's judgement' is to leave us stranded on an altar to starve to death? I'd expect something flashier from God," Robin commented.

"Does sound like a waste of time for a guy who can strike you down anywhere with lighting," Nami agreed.

Zoro tossed his wet shirt and towel back up onto the Going Merry and then started to survey the shore with a contemplative look on his face. Robin jumped down from the ship and began examining the Carvings on the Alter; she ran her hand gently over the stone work.

"Chopper, do you reckon you can do some repair work on the ship?" Zoro suddenly asked.

"Me?" The reindeer replied timidly.

"Yeah, why him? Are you going somewhere?" Nami asked sceptically.

"Supposedly God's on this island… And by the time I'm done with him, he's going to bow before me." Zoro finished with a smirk.

"So cool," Chopper responded with stars in his eyes.

Robin came around the front of the Merry.

"Do you mind if I come too?" She asked.

"Huh…sure just don't get in my way," Zoro said, he still did not completely trust the former Baroque Works agent.

"Wonderful," Robin smiled.

She climbed back onto the Merry and got a back prepared, she also grabbed her cowboy style hat and put it on. When she was ready Robin came back out onto the deck.

"How are you two going to get across the lake?" Connor asked.

"Good question," Zoro said. He knew swimming was out of the question but he could not see any other way.

"Wait a minute! Why are you two actively searching for danger?" Nami interrupted.

"Nami danger's going to find us either way," Zoro replied "Plus it's better than waiting to be sacrificed,"

"There may be more archaeological finds like this, and frankly I find them fascinating. This Altar itself appears to be at least one thousand years old," Robin claimed.

"One thousand years?" Nami asked, disbelievingly.

"Yes, just think of all the other ancient secrets this island must hold," Robin added.

Nami's eyes instantly turned to Beri symbols.

"Alright let's go and explore the Island," She declared.

"Nami, you're scary sometimes," Chopper said.

"But how are you going to get across the lake?" Connor asked.

"I've got it," Robin said and pointed to a vine hanging from a tree way above the mast, she used her devil fruit to drop the vine down. Zoro looked at Connor.

"Hey kid do you want to come?" he asked.

"No thanks, I think I'll stay put," The boy replied calmly.

Zoro shrugged and climbed the mast; he took the vine and swung over the lake, letting out a Tarzan like yell which he would come to call. Once he landed he threw the vine back to the ship and Robin caught it.

She swung out over the lake without hesitation and landed next to Zoro before throwing the vine back.

"You didn't do it right, you were supposed to let out a call of bravery," Zoro scolded.

"My apologies, I will remember to do so in the future," Robin apologised and she threw the vine back to the ship.

Nami caught it but she was quite afraid to swing across the lake filled with carnivorous giant sharks.

"Looks like Nami doesn't want the tressure," Connor observed.

Nami instantly jumped off the mast and swung across the lake, though Robin had to catch her from crashing into a tree.

"Good luck Chopper! Look after Connor!" Zoro yelled from the shore.

Chopper and Connor watched them wave goodbye before they disappeared into the forest. Chopper looked out.

"So why didn't you go?" Chopper asked Connor.

"I didn't feel like it," Connor responded "What about you?"

"I'm too scared to go out with the others into a giant forest filled with giant monstrous creatures…let alone swing across a lake filled with Sky-Sharks," Chopper clamed "So I'll stay we're it's safe,"

"Fair enough…but you do realise that two of most powerful members in the crew just left us here alone right…without back up," Connor pointed out.

It took a moment for Chopper to process what Connor was saying he then looked up and down the ship and the doctor realised that Connor was right. With Zoro, Robin and Nami gone Chopper was alone with a 13yr old boy, on a sacrificial Alter in a middle of a lake filled with monsters.

"GGGGAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! WE'ER THE ONES IN THE MOST DANGER!" Chopper sceamed.

Connor let out a sigh as Chopper ran up and down the deck in a panicked state.

"Chopper calm down," Connor tried.

But Chopper ignored him, the little doctor just ran around the ship in panic crying out about monsters that would eat him.

"Oh we'll he'll tire himself out…eventually," Connor said to himself.

Chopper eventually did calm down and after he got his breath back he went into the men's quarters and grabbed some of Usopp's tools to start attempting to repair the Merry. Connor helped by getting out the spare wood and passing Chopper the tools.

Chopper was focused on his task so they didn't talk, they both preferred it that way because neither of them knew what lived in the forest and neither of them wanted to know. A short time later Chopper dropped his hammer and it landed on the bottom step or the Alter; the one closet to the Sky-Shark infested lake.

"Well that's bad luck," Connor stated.

"What am I going to do?" Chopper panicked.

"Just go down and get it," Connor said.

"But…But the sharks…" Chopper said fearfully.

The two pirates looked down and saw several fins above the surface swimming around close to the steps and one of the sharks jumped out of the water before landing with a splash.

"I…I…I can't…." Chopper panicked.

"If your quite they won't notice you," Connor advised.

Chopper gulped and he slowly and carefully made his way down the steps, when he reached the bottom he tiptoed over to the hammer and picked it up.

"I got it…" he said happily.

"I GOT IT!" Chopper cried out loudly.

Up on the ship Connor face palmed he knew the doctor had just alerted the sharks to his presence. Suddenly a Sky-Shark burst out of the lake with its massive jaw wide open, it slammed into the Bottom of the Alter covering at least 5 whole steps.

Thankfully Chopper had managed to avoid been eaten by the shark but he also landed on the carnivores head. He grabbed on to the shark and held on tight as the monster started thrashing about in an effort to get Chopper off.

Chopper held on as hard as he could but was quickly thrown high into the air, Connor watched following the movement with his head as Chopper screamed and he flew over the steps and landed head first on the deck of the Merry.

"Well…that's one way of getting back," Connor stated.

He walked over to the doctor and helped him sit the right way up. Chopper was dizzy from the flight and was muttering how scary sky island was.

"Chopper…are you okay?" Connor asked.

Chopper shook of his dizziness and looked a t Connor.

"That was so scary….why is this place scary?!" Chopper cried.

Connor rolled his eyes; he then noticed the hammer on the deck.

"At least you got the Hammer back," Connor pointed out.

Chopper looked and saw the Hammer was next to him along with the Whistle that Gan Fall had given the crew. Chopper picked it up.

"Wasn't this attached to the mast?" Chopper asked.

"Maybe your landing knocked it off," Connor reasoned.

"Hey I know! We should call the Knight of the Sky to protect us," Chopper said as he held up the whistle.

"Didn't Nami say that was for emergencies only?" Connor asked "I highly doubt fixing the ship counts,"

"Yeah….your right," Chopper sighed "We should only use this as a last resort,"

Suddenly the two heard the beating of large wings above them, they looked up expecting to see a local bird or Gan Fall but what they saw instead was a man riding a large bird similar to Pierre only a lot more fierce looking.

The Man was tall with a thin, pointed moustache that split into two parts. He wore an orange fur-lined jacket, with brown swollen sleeves, loose matching orange pants held up by a belt, fur-lined gloves and boots and a purple scarf around his neck. He had dark hair under his aviator hat that was decorated with wings and goggles on the front. Like the rest of the inhabitants and on his back was a pair of wings. Strapped to his back was a lance.

He was standing on an enormous purple feathered bird with gigantic wings. It had red feathers around its neck, a white head and a very has a sharp beak. Its tail is further purple coloured with lighter extensions added into it. The claws underneath its legs are white with sharp black nails.

The man looked down at the two in disappointment and boredom.

"What…you're the only two I get to kill?" he asked.

Panic flashed across Connor and Choppers faces and Chopper instantly blew the whistle.

* * *

 _In the Forest_

Zoro, Nami and Robin were following the river along the forest, the forest floor was covered in giant tree roots so progress was slow but they were quite far away from the Alter. Zoro was still keen to find god and beat him up.

Once they finally came to an area that was not covered in tree roots Robin noticed something odd.

"The ground…its soil…" She stated.

"Yeah why wouldn't' it be?" Zoro asked.

"Were on a sky Island…why is it not made up of Island cloud?" Robin asked.

Nami and Zoro looked down and realised that robin was right.

"Hey yeah…Payaga said that Island cloud could support plant life to some extent," Nami remembered.

"But then why are the trees so big? We don't have trees this big back in our sea," Zoro asked.

"Perhaps the soil is far more fertile hear than down in the Grand Line or the Blues," Robin suggested.

"That makes sense; this Island is over 10,000,000 feet above sea level. The pressure would compress the soil and created far denser and richer minerals," Nami explained "Combine that with all the moister in the air up here and it's perfect for gardening,"

"Of creating a forest to sacrifice people in," Zoro said "But why grow a forest this size in the first place?"

Zoro suddenly glanced back at in the direction of the Merry, for whatever reason he had a bad feeling about something.

"Hey…Do you think Chopper and the kid are okay?" he asked seriously.

"What brought this on?" Nami replied.

"I just got a really bad feeling…like we should not have left them," Zoro explained.

"Don't underestimate Chopper, he's resourceful and he's much braver than he realises," Robin claimed.

"Yeah and Connors no pushover either," Nami added.

Zoro took another long look in the direction that they had come from.

"I guess you're right, I'm probably worrying over nothing," Zoro conceded. He didn't want to underestimate his friends.

The Group kept walking deeper into the forest, Zoro ignored the bad feeling he got earlier and focused on finding god. After a while they came across a huge tree root that acted like a bridge between the two sides of the river.

While they were crossing it a Sky-Shark attacked but it was swiftly cut down by Zoro. Robin spied some old stone rubble was scattered around the roots of the trees and what looked like a well that had been nearly over grown by the tree roots.

Robin stopped to take a water sample and used her powers to do it, Nami claimed a tree with the aid of a strong vine to see if she could see anything interesting from up high.

"Why are we stopping? What's so important about an old well?" Zoro asked.

"Don't you find it odd that there are signs of civilization on Gods Island?" Robin asked.

"No," Zoro answered.

"Think about it, if this Island is supposed to be sacred and holy ground then why build on it in the first place?" Robin asked.

"I don't know, but this forest is two dese to support any form of civilization," Zoro said.

"Exactly so where did this well come from?" Robin asked.

Zoro had no answer for that.

"The way the trees have grown…I don't think that the ones who lived here had intended to let the forest grow out of control like this," Robin stated.

"So what there are other people here besides god and his priests?" Zoro asked.

"I can't say for sure but I do know that the balance between man and Nature is out of balance and this massive forest is the result," Robin said.

Zoro sighed; he didn't see what the big deal was. Who cares if Nature is out of whack it was not his problem. He looked up into the tree.

"OI NAMI! DO YOU SEE ANYTHING!" Zoro cried out.

Nami climbed down and ran off into the forest, Zoro and Robin ran after her.

"Nami slow down," Robin called out.

Nami stopped and looked back at them.

"No time, hurry up," Nami ordered.

They ran through the forest and Namis earlier fears and exhaustion of climbing over the roots seemed to just disappear, they came to another cloud river and Nami looked up and down it looking for a way across.

Robin as Zoro caught up.

"Nami what did you see that could make you run off like that?" Zoro asked.

Nami however ignored him, she climbed a nearby tree and using a vine she swung across the river without hesitation.

"Hurry Up!" she called back from the other side of the river.

"Well her bravery certainly has improved," Robin observed.

Once Zoro and Robin had swung across Nami ran off again and the other two had to follow.

"Nami where are you leading us?" Zoro asked. He was getting annoyed with her.

"Hang on, it's just over here," Nami replied and she went further ahead.

Zoro sighed, Nami was making things harder by not telling them what she had seen and where she was leading them. Zoro and Robin moved past some more trees and they found Nami standing near the edge of Upper Yard's north shore. However their eyes widened at what she had found stunned them. An odd stone structure which ended perfectly in line with the shore, a structure which looked half-complete.

"Is that what I think it is?" Robin asked.

Nami nodded.

"It's the other half of Cricket's house," Nami exclaimed.

Robin and Zoro stared at the half house in shock; they remembered the stone building that appeared to have been split clean in two before he had plastered that fake-palace front on to it.

"But how is that possible?" Zoro asked.

"Maybe…. the Knock Up Stream…." Robin started.

"You think it's powerful enough to tear an Island in half?" Zoro asked.

"It's the only explanation," Nami said.

"Think about it why would there be soil in an Island made of clouds? Why would the log pose point up if Clouds don't give off a magnetic field?" Robin asked "It must have happened close to 400 years ago…maybe slightly earlier,"

"Why do you say that?" Nami asked.

"Because 400 years ago Noland claimed to have found the city of gold and when he returned it was gone,"

"So if….Upper Yard…was once part of Jaya." Zoro started.

"Then the city of gold…it didn't sink into the ocean," Nami added.

"No…it's been up here in the sky all this time. For 400 years the city of gold has been above them not below," Robin finished.


	42. Skypia Pt 6

**_A.N I own nothing._**

 ** _Happy ANZAC Day. For those not living in Australia_ _ANZAC Day is a celbration of the day the ANZACS laded in Gallipoli during WWI. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps that was formed for the porpouse of Capturing Gallipoli . ANZAC Day falls on 25th of April as this was the day the ANZAC soilders set out for Gallipoli, in 1916 the 25th of April was officaly changed to ANZAC Day in memory of those who fought and died._**

 ** _Please Review_**

* * *

 _Milky Road, Luffys Group_

Luffys group continued along the Milky Road, turns out they had not fallen off the Island only down a large Sky Waterfall, though that had not stopped Sanji and Usopp form beating the rubber captain up for putting the idea in their heads.

The Little Crow continued along the Cloud river and after a while the scenery changed, it was still a large forest but large floating white spheres started to fill the area. They were floating above, below and around the track, they were everywhere and spread out into the forest, they seemed to stretch on and on for miles.

"What do you think these are?" Usopp asked.

"Maybe there the balls," Luffy said and he reached for one.

"Whatever they are don't touch them, they could be booby trapped or something," Sanji advised.

But it was too late Luffy and Usopp were already playing with one of the spheres, which Luffy had reeled in. Suddenly the ball pooped like a balloon and a Sky-Shark came out.

"GAH!" Usopp yelled, swiftly dodging the incoming Sky-shark-ball-of-doom.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Sanji shouted in surprise,

Luffy punched the shark away before it could do any damage to the boat or the crew.

"There was a shark inside the ball…" Usopp said in shock and panic.

"How did it get in there?" Sanji asked.

"Maybe someone threw the ball at it and caught it….hey do you think they catch monsters in balls up here?" Luffy asked excitedly.

"And do what with them?" Usopp asked.

"Raise them, battle with them…so on an adventure with a monsters in balls sounds like fun," Luffy said. (1)

"That is the most stupid thing I have ever herd," Sanji claimed.

"It not that stupid," Luffy pouted.

"Speaking of monster balls, there's another one!" Usopp yelled, pointing in front of the waver.

Sanji moved to kick the ball away, but the second his foot made contact, the ball exploded in a fiery blaze.

Amazingly no-one was seriously hurt in the explosion.

"What the hell? There was no monster in this one?" Sanji asked.

Before any one could answer the group heard an odd laugh from their right, they looked and saw an odd man sitting on one of the spheres.

He was a round-shaped man with fair skin and long, dark red hair. He wore a white, full-body jumpsuit, which has a vertical line of golden rings that run from front to back, an orange hat, gloves and shoes. He also had large, yellow sunglasses that completely obscure his eyes and covered most of his face along white wings on his back.

"Silly children! These are surprise clouds, you never know what's going to come out of them!" the man said.

The Straw-Hats could only sit and stare at him for a few moments.

"Wha…" was all Luffy could manage.

"It's a human dumpling…" Sanji elaborated, looking just as confused as the others.

"My Name I Satori, I'm so glad you chose to come into my ordeal," Satori introduced happily.

"Your ordeal…wait your one of the priests?" Usopp asked in surprise.

"Why yes, and this is my ordeal, the Ordeal of Balls, survival rate is 10%," Satori claimed.

"If your one of the priests where is Nami-swan?" Sanji demanded.

"Hmm you mean the other sacrifices? There not in here," Satori claimed.

"But there safe right?" Usopp asked.

"Don't know, but they should be at the Alter…not that it really matters," Satori claimed.

"Why not? Can't we get to the Alter from here?" Luffy asked.

"Oh you can, the Milky Road splits in four and each route leads to a different trail, but no matter what route you take the result will be the same," Satori claimed.

"Meaning what?" Sanji asked.

"Meaning you're going to die here and once you do the scarifies will also die," Satori said seriously.

He never got a response as Satori jumped off the ball and charged towards the pirates, Luffy threw a punch but Satori avoided with ease.

"Predicable," Satori commented.

He then stopped right in front of Luffy and brought his hand up point-blank to Luffy's face.

What happened next, nobody at the time knew. After a quick flash of light and an odd sound, both of which seemed to emanate from Satori's hand and Luffy suddenly went flying straight off the Waver before crashing into a tree, his eyes went white and blood dripped from his mouth as he hit.

"Luffy!" Usopp and Sanji yelled they watched the captain fall to the forest floor.

"Ha ha one down two to go," Satori laughed happily.

Sanji immediately responded by sending a kick to Satori but like with Luffy the round priest avoided it with ease, Usopp started to fire shots form his slingshot but Satori just dodged them skilfully.

"You'll never be able to hit me like that," Satori boasted.

Usopp continued to fire at Satori who now looked like he was dancing as he dodged the incoming fire, even though it was close range none of Usopp attacks were landing. Suddenly the side of a boot connected with his face, launching the priest off the waver.

Satori recovered quickly landing on one of his cloud spheres.

"Opps I lost focus, for a second" the priest cursed.

"Nice one Sanji," Usopp praised.

Satori decided to change tactic, he began launching dozens of the spheres at Usopp and Sanji who were still on the Waver.

Suddenly Usopp had got a brilliant idea, he reached into his pouch and pulled out a glass bottle and threw it into the incoming spheres.

"Usopp Flaming Star!" Usopp cried out as he shit the bottles with one of his pellets.

Satori stopped throwing spheres and jumped back as a massive explosion engulfed the incoming spears and the contents' fell harmlessly to the ground.

"Whoa…nice, how did you know that would work?" Sanji asked.

"Well everything here is made of clouds right, and Clouds are mostly water vapour so if you apply intense heat they evaporate," Usopp said confidently.

Back on the forest floor, Luffy was slowly recovering; he looked up to see Satori's fearsome attacking strategy being ploughed through simply because of Usopps resourcefulness. Though Luffy new that Usopp would eventually run out of ammo or one of the cloud balls would hit the boat.

Sanji was trying to help but the problem was Satori had enough skill to manoeuvre even while airborne, Sanjis attack never hit and Usopp was busy popping the spheres.

Luffy lunged himself back up at Satori using the trees to propel himself like a rocket, Satori was too focused on Usopp and Sanji that he did not notice Luffy until the Captain crashed into him. Satori was thrown back and crashed into a Surprise Cloud but it was a dud as potted Posies came out and fell to the ground.

Satori looked down at the shattered pot.

"Oh no, not again," He said.

The priests then looked at Luffy who had managed to get back on the Little Crow.

"Hey I'm back," Luffy announced.

"That's gre….LOOK OUT!" Sanji screamed.

Luffy tuned and looked at Satori in horror as he suddenly appeared behind him with his arm raised. The same noise and bright light flashed and Luffy Sanji and Usopp were all sent flying off the small boat and down to the ground where they remained motionless.

Satori landed on the boat and pressed the Accelerator and the Little Crow sped up, he jumped off and looked down to the pirates as they were slowly struggling to get up.

"Now what will you do?" Satori asked "Your boats getting away without it you can never leave this forest or get to the scarifies,"

Satori watched as the pirates struggled to get up they looked up and glared at the priest but they were also looking for their boat, they could not see it from the forest floor.

"Damn this guy's annoying," Sanji commented.

"What's annoying is these Surprise balls," Usopp said.

"You guys focus on finding the boat, I'll handle the ball man," Luffy said.

Sanji and Usopp nodded and they ran off further into the forest, Luffy lunched himself a Satori again and let lose a series of attacks but each time the priest moved away before the attack could land.

"You'll never hit me like that," Satori laughed "I can predict your every move,"

"Predict this," Luffy shot back "Gomu-Gomu Gatling,"

Luffy let his fists fly and they hit every single ball in the area sending them flying in random directions, those balls hit others and the cycle continued until thousands of balls were flying through the forest. It should have been impossible to predict where they would fly but Satori easily dodged them.

The Straw Hats were not so lucky, Sanji got attacked by balls filled with spears, giant crabs a few monsters and spinning blades. Four balls landed near Usopp and a singing quartet of birds came out, after they're performance they beat Usopp up. Luffy however got hit by a ball with fire which ignited his pants and he ran around trying to put it out.

Satori watched the pirates in amusement. His amusement increased when Luffy somehow wound up swinging through the forest and completely forgetting about the battle to have some fun, then Usopp joined in when he attempted to get back to the boat using a grappling hook belt that did not release.

Sanji was getting annoyed; he looked over to Satori and saw that the priest was rolling on his back laughing.

"Hey priest guy," Sanji said.

Satori stopped laughing and looked at Sanji.

"Can you put this trial on hold for a minute? I need a word with my friends," Sanji said darkly.

Satori nodded and Sanji pulled both Usopp and Luffy off their respective vines and beat them up.

"From now on you two do everything I say, got it?" Sanji ordered.

"Ybed bere thorry(Yes we're Sorry)" Luffy and Usopp said through there swollen faces.

"Right here's the plan; forget about the boat for now. We need to take this dumpling out first," Sanji said.

"But how, he can predict our moves," Usopp said.

"We could try to be unpredictable," Luffy offered.

That earned him another hit from Sanji.

"Idiot this is serious," Sanji scolded.

"Now where's the fun in that?" Satori asked as he appeared behind them.

He blasted the group with his light attack and the pirated were blown away.

"Weather your serious or not the result will be the same. You won't be leaving this forest alive," Satori claimed

Satori looked down at the injured pirates, he could tell that they were running out of energy and the injuries were taking starting to take their toll on they're bodies.

"This has been fun but it's time for you to die, but since I'm in a generous mood I'll send you out with a bang," Satori said.

He jumped onto a surprise ball and pulled out a long candy cane, he waved it around and around Chinese dragon head flew appeared from the ball and it attracted other balls forming a body.

"I should warn you that all the balls in this dragon are filled with Gunpowder and highly flammable substances," Satori claimed.

"Wait we can still make it out," Usopp said.

"No you can't, your boat is nearing the end of the forest and unless you can fly you will never get out," Satori claimed. He then waved the candy cane and the surprise dragon flew towards the pirets.

Usopp and Luffy ran as they were chased down by the cloud dragon, they had to jump out of the way but they landed on a cloud ball that blew up. Satori continued to chase Luffy and Usopp until the two went off in separate directions.

Usopp took the opportunity to leave and find the boat while the dragon chased Luffy and the rubber captain headed for a tree.

"Planning to escape by climbing a tree…it won't work," Satori said.

Luffy ignored him and stretched up the tree anyway, but the dragon followed, as it got closer Luffy was forced to let go but Satori maneuvererd the dragon underneath him

"Boom," Satori grinned.

Luffy panicked as he had no desire to be blown up but before he landed on the exploding surprise balls he grabbed onto something that left him hanging just above it.

"Huh…what's this?" Luffy asked.

He looked up and saw that he was hanging from a very thin but strong rope, he could not see it from before but now it was clear as day. Luffy traced the rope back to Satori's cane.

"Oh so this is how you're controlling the dragon," Luffy smiled.

"Get off…Let go this instant," Satori demanded.

"So if I do this…" Luffy said and he snapped the rope holding one side in each hand "You can't control it anymore,"

"Why you…COME HERE! I'LL TEACH YOU NOT TO BEARK MY TOYS!" Satori yelled.

He pulled the cane back and Luffy was pulled up to Satori, however he was still holding onto the rope that had the dragons head. Satori realised this too late and Luffy brought the exploding Dragon straight to the priest.

"NNNOOOOOO!" Satori screamed.

BOOM!

A loud explosion covered the area, when the smoke and dust cleared Satori was on another surprise ball panting. He was injured and his clothes were dirty from the explosion.

"That was close…almost unavoidable," Satori said.

"I know, good thing your fast," a familiar voice said.

Satori looked behind him to see that Luffy was on his back and holding onto the priests wings.

"You're still alive?!" Satori panicked.

Luffy grinned and he used his Rubber limbs to restrain Satori.

"Let me go…let me go right now," Satori cried.

"Luffy don't let him go, I need to tenderize the meat," Sanji said, he was sitting on another surprise ball that was floating not far from Satori.

"Hey Sanji, your still alive," Luffy said happily.

"SHUT UP, I ALMOST DIED IN THAT EXPLOSION!" Sanji yelled angrily.

He then turned his attention to Satori.

"You know you've got some nerve, kidnapping our friends and making that sweet little angel cry," Sanji said seriously as he lit his cigarette.

Satori started to panic and he tried to get out of Luffys grip but the rubber captain just held on.

"You keep going on about your ordeals and quite frankly I don't give a crap. However there are two very delicate ladies waiting for me to save them so since you like ordeals so much I'm going to put you through my ordeal…the Ordeal of Love," Sanji said dangerously.

He stood up and jumped into the air.

"No…Noo stop that will hurt…" Satori begged an e watched Sanji summersault through the air gaining momentum.

"You it's really cool how you can predict our moves," Luffy said "But that means nothing if you can't doge,"

"NOOOOOOO!" Satori cried as Sanji brought his foot down on Satori's head, taking the priest out once and for all.

Satori fell to the forest floor and the force of impact left him in a rather large creator.

"Now…let's get out of here," Sanji said as he took a puff from his cigarette.

* * *

 _Sacrificial Alter, Going Merry_

Chopper and Connor stared at Shuna in terror, Chopper still had the whistle in his mouth and every breath he realised made caused it to make a noise; though it was not as loud or as strong as the one before.

Shuna however seemed disappointed that there were only two of them on the Alter. Connor got over his initial shock.

"W…Who are you?" Connor asked.

"I'm Shuna, a priest of Enel…and it is time to offer your lives to Enel," Shuna introduced.

Shuna grabbed his lance and jabbed at the spot where Chopper was standing, the frightened doctor jumped back as the lace embedded itself in the ground. Shuna moved the lance towards them and once he removed it the trail he had left caught on fire.

"Wha….the stone is burning?" Connor asked in surprise, stone was supposed not burn.

Shuna looked even more disappointed.

"Why did you doge? Nothing can save you?" He asked "Fuza….incinerate him,"

Before either Connor or Chopper aske who Fuza was the bird opened it mouth and breathed a stream of fire at them. Chopper panicked and was frozen in place; The heat of the flames could be felt on the ship as the ropes caught fire.

"Oh no!" Connor yelled and he started to attempt to put the fire out.

Chopper who had managed to avoid the fire stream by diving onto the stone stairs saw the Merry on fire; he ran across in front of the priest forgetting about him as his only concern was the Merry.

"Oh…you're going to grow," Shuna stated.

Chopper hesitated for a brief second wondering how Shuna knew about his transforming ability and how the priest knew what he was thinking. Chopper shifted into his human form and climbed on the Merry; he tore the ropes off and stamped out the fire.

Connor looked up at the mast worryingly as it tilted sightly when chopper ripped the robes off.

"Oi why are you worrying about your ship? It's not like it'll be carrying anyone anymore," Shauna said coldly.

"What the hell do you know?!" Connor demanded angrily.

"You and your Nakama can not be saved," Shauna claimed "You will all die,"

"Stop it! Don't say such things," Chopper cried.

Shuna responded by jumping off Fuza and launching himself at Chopper, Chopper dogged the lance strike by tuning back into his hybrid form and Shuna kicked him; sending him bouncing across the deck.

"Chopper!" Connor cried out in worry.

Chopper crashed into the mast and Shuna sent a stream of fire at it, thankfully Chopper was able to get out of the way but the mast burst into flames.

"Stop attacking the ship…anything but the ship," Chopper begged.

Chopper and Connor quickly tried to put the fire out bit it was too difficult and it was clear that if the fire spread the entire ship would burn. Chopper grabbed the mast and in an impressive display of strength he ripped it off and threw it into the lake.

Shuna decided to grant the request; instead of targeting the ship again he lunged at Connor with his lance. Connor saw him coming and drew his sword, he parried the strike. Shunas eyes went wide as he had not foreseen Connors sudden defence.

'What?' Shuna thought 'how did he do that?'

Shuna recovered from his confusion and punched Connor sending him fling into the base of the Merry's figure head.

"Connor!" Chopper cried.

Shuna lunged at Connor again and the boy managed to get out of the way of the lance but the wood on the railing started to burn.

"No don't hurt him," Chopper said as Shuna withdrew his lance and another section of the ship caught on fire.

Chopper and Connor scrambled to put it out and Luffys special seat was saved.

"Stop it…Stop destroying our home!" Connor cried.

"Home?" Shuna asked.

"They left me in charge of the ship…I'm supposed to look after it," Chopper claimed.

"Is that so…what annoying little children you are," Shuna mocked "don't bun my ship…doesn't hurt my friends, I don't want to die. Such selfish brats,"

Shuna continued to attack both Chopper and Connor, however every strike they avoided the Merry caught on fire. A few times Connor was able to parry the blows but that resulted in Shuna either punching him or kicking him away.

The priest was dumbfounded that he could not predict the boy's movements; in fact he couldn't sense him at all. Thankfully for the priest he was far more experienced in battle than Connor so not being able to predict his movements was not that great of a loss.

Connor attempted to stab the priest but Shuna jumped backwards and landed on the top deck railing, he looked down at the two.

"Did you two know that this was a Sacrificial Alter?" the priest suddenly asked.

The question caught the two pirates by surprise.

"Y…Yes," Chopper answered.

"Hmm…interesting, you knew and yet your Nakama still left," Shuna mused.

"What do you mean by that?" Connor asked.

"There are four areas governed by us four priests, when someone enters one of these areas the other three priests cannot get involved with them…however this part of the forest is a Free Area and any priest can come and go and do as they like," Shuna explained.

"However these rules run under the assumption that those in the Ordeals die. Once your Nakama die those at the Sacrificial Alter become free targets for the priest who gets here first,"

Connor and Chopper stared at Shuna in shock; they both knew that Luffy and the others were still alive as Connor would have told Chopper if anything had happened to Luffy and the others as he was connected to them.

"Luffys not dead," Connor declared.

"You are correct; none of your Nakama have died. Right now they are fighting to get here," Shuna agreed.

"If they're still alive and they get here…can we leave?" Chopper asked.

"If you can escape yes," Shuna answered.

"Wait…so why did you come here if you're not allowed to kill us until our Nakama are dead? Connor asked.

"Because those rules only apply if the scarifies stay put…the rules change under certain circumstances," Shauna claimed.

"Like what?" Chopper asked.

"Like if any of the sacrifices uses a vine to swing over the lake and escape into the forest," Shuna claimed.

Chopper and Connors jaws dropped, Zoro had broken the rules.

"S…S…So what are the new rules?" Connor asked nervously.

"There fairly simple…all criminals weather they be sacrifices or those facing the Ordeals must be hunted down and killed without mercy," Shuna said "Now…offer me your lives so I may find and kill the others,"

Chopper and Connor stared at the priest in fear as he got ready to strike again, however something caught the priest's attention as Gan Fall's finally arrived and engaged the priest in battle.

"My apologises for the wait," Gan Fall said.

"K…K…Knight of the Sky!" Chopper yelled out happily.

"He actually came," Connor said with relief.

Chopper shifted back into his hybrid form and jumped off the ship to watch the fight, Connor climbed onto the ships railing and watched as well. Gan Fall and Shuna both had winged mounts so the battle was an Ariel one.

They clashed a few times in the sky and each pulled off some very tricky flying maneuverers to avoid the others strikes. Gan Fall got the upper hand when He and Pierre did a loop de loop over Shuna and Fuza and Gan Fall landed on the other birds back.

Shunas eyes went wide as his mantra was showed him what was about to happen and a second later both fighters were blasted of Fuza, Pierre caught Gan Fall but Shuna fell towards the lake and was saved by Fuza at the last second.

Both birds regained their flight momentum and the fight started again. On the Altair Chopper was cheering loudly for Gan Fall and Connor was left speechless by the sheer skill of each combatant and the strength of their flying mounts.

"We need one more run Pierre…go and don't hold back," Gan Fall told his friend.

Shuna having recovered somewhat from the last attack was pissed.

"You fool," He growled "You came here…knowing that you were a criminal and that us priests would be on alert,"

"Of course, this is a service after all," Gan Fall responded.

"Hph you're a bigger fool then Enel thought, we don't need to Gods. You will feel my anger towards irritating and selfish fools…I DECLARE THE ORDEL OF STRING!" Shuna yelled out.

The fight resumed and both Shuna and Gan Fall fought harder and faster than before, Connor and Chopper could not keep up with their movements they continued to watch for a few more minutes and Gan Fall started to get the upper hand but suddenly he and Pierre stopped in mid-air in front of the Alter.

"What?" Gan Fall gasped.

"Got you know," Shuna grinned.

"What's going on…how can they just be stuck in bid mid-air?" Connor asked.

Connor switched to his second sight and he saw that Pierre and Gan Fall were tangled up in what looked like very very thin yet strong invisible sting. He looked around the lake and saw that the entire sky above the lake was covered in it.

"W…W…Where did that come from?" Connor gasped.

"What?" Chopper asked looking up at Connor.

"There's these thin web like strings all around the area…Gan Falls caught in it!" Connor yelled.

"WHAT!?"Chopper panicked, he scanned the sky but did not see anything.

Gan Fall had also herd this and started to struggle to get out of the trap but it seemed to make it worse. He had herd of the Ordeal of String and it was invisible to the naked eye. He would have been fascinated and impressed that Connor could see the ordeal if Shuna was no heading his direction in an attack run.

Chopper and Connor watched in horror as Shuna ran Gan Fall through with his flaming lace, Connor saw the string around Gan Fall burn away as the knight fell into the lake. Shuna then hovered behind Pierre and he struck the bird and Pierre fell into the lake as well.

'So that's why he has a fiery weapon…he uses it keep himself from being entangled,' Connor realised and his eyes went back to their normal colour.

"Now where were we…what the?" Shuna asked tuning his attention back to the Atler. He was surprised to see Chopper diving into the lake.

"CHOPPER DON'T!" Connor cried out.

"Fool, he's a Zoan type he can't swim," Shuna stated.

Chopper landed in the lake with a splash and did not resurface again. Shuna looked at Connor.

"What will you do? Will you take your own life too?" Shuna asked.

Connor looked at the priest and then down at the lake, he made his decision.

"This is going to hurt so much," Connor said to himself and he jumped of the Merry and dived into the lake.

Shuna hovered there for a moment and then sighed.

"This is why I hate weaklings…Well it doesn't really matter to me weather I kill them or they get eaten, ether way their dead. Come Fuza, let's go see if the others fugitives have been hunted down yet," Shuna said.

Fuza squawked and then flew off into the forest.

* * *

 ** _(1) Luffy just described the whole concept of Pokemon. If you did not get the Pokemon refrence than you had a very sad childhood._**


	43. Skypia Pt 7

_**A.N I own Nothing.**_

 _ **Please Review.**_

* * *

A young girl ran across a stretch of sloid Island cloud, there was no reason for a child like her to be out alone as there was nothing in sight for miles in any direction.

She was a small girl wearing a wears a fur dress a white cap with cloth hanging down the sides and back covering her short brown hair and like everyone else a pair of wings on her back.

The girl eventually stopped and looked around searching for unseen pursuers, finding none she jumped three times and on the third she fell through the clouds.

She landed on a soft pile of clouds not far from a village, once she got off the pile se ran towards the village. The village was a simple yet welcoming sight; there were no houses or roads, just a path made up of wood and teepe tents.

"Aisa…where are you off to in such a hurry?" a man asked.

"Something's happened on Upper yard, I need to tell Wiper," the girl called Aisa answered.

"I wouldn't, he's in a meeting at the moment…and a very foul mood," the warrior claimed.

Aisa paled at that, she was terrified of Wiper and for good reason. He was so violent and scary, every time something did not go his way he would lash out at those around him and he was always angry at something.

Despite this Aisa still headed to Wipers tent, she hesitated for a second before bursting gaining the attention of everyone in the tent.

Five warriors looked at her Aisa felt very insecure and nervous under their gazes.

The first was a fat, bald Shandian with a hat that resembles a chef's hat, but with dark yellow and white stripes on it. He wore a grass skirt, a large belt with a big buckle hanging from over his left shoulder. His arms were covered by some sort of spotted, fur-lined gloves reaching up to his neck, covering even the shoulders and pair of wings on his back.

The second man was a muscular man with the upper-half of his face always hidden by his hat. He wore a grass skirt, with a decorated, long light-red sash around his waist and a light-blue veil appearing from under the skirt and reaching down to his feet, a fur-lined, dark-green jacket, and dark gloves on his hands and pair of wings on his back.

The third man was a muscular, dark-skinned man with a Mohawk hairstyle and a pair of big, round sunglasses with red lenses and white frame. He wore a grass skirt with a red and green elaborate belt around the waist, a light red fur vest and a necklace that seems to be made of some animal's claws or teeth and pair of wings on his back..

The forth was a the only woman in the tent she was a tall, black-haired woman, with two large bangs parted to either side of her face on the front, and a long and elaborate ponytail on the back. She wore a light purple revealing tunic with a darker pattern that exposes her stomach, and light-red pants that were open on the inside of her legs and pair of wings on her back.

The final man was sitting in a chair while the others were on the ground, he had an air of authority about him and respect, it was clear that he was the leader.

The leader was a tall, muscular man covered by various tribal tattoos across his left shoulder and the left side of his face. He had very long dark brown hair is arranged in a Mohawk that follows into a segmented braid that goes slightly past his waist. He was shirtless but wore grass skirt, with a rope belt decorated by three small ornaments that look like fangs or claws around his waist and pair of wings on his back. There was a bazooka next to him and he looked very angry.

"Genbo, Bhrem, Kimikri, Laki….Wiper," Aisa greeted saying each warriors name, though she paused before Wiper's name.

"What do you want?" the one on the throne growled.

Aisa trembled under his gaze fearing he would direct his anger towards her.

"I…I…" Aisa studded.

"Spit it out," the leader shouted.

"Wiper, clam down," the woman scolded.

She then looked at Aisa.

"What is it?" she asked kindly.

"G…G…GAN FALLS BEEN FIGHTING ON UPPER YARD!" Aisa yelled out.

"What?" Wiper asked interested "Who was he fighting?"

"A priest…It was Shura…he lost," Aisa claimed.

"So…Gan Fall has fallen?" Kimikri asked.

Aisa nodded.

A grin appeared on Wipers face.

"This is good news indeed," he said pleased.

"There's more…Satori has also fallen…I can no longer hear him," Aisa claimed.

The tent went silent and the occupants stared at the girl in shock.

"Who took Satori out?" Laki asked.

"I…It was those people who arrived in the white sea earlier today," Aisa claimed "five of them went to the Alter and the other three were in Satori's area,"

"The Blue Sea Dwellers took out Satori?" Wiper asked in surprise.

Aisa nodded.

"They went into Satori's area and now I can't hear him anymore but…all three left the area," Aisa claimed.

"Where are they now?"

"Still on the Milky road," Aisa answered.

"They're probably heading to the Alter," Laki mused.

"Either way Gan Fall has fallen and Enel is down one priest…we will not let this chance slip by," Wiper said.

"Gather the warriors and prepare for battle, we leave at dawn. Either we all die or Enel dose," Wiper declared.

* * *

 _In the forest, Zoro's group_

After having discovered Upper Yards true origin Nami, Robin and Zoro decided to head bac to the Merry as it was getting late and none of them wanted to be caught in this forest after Dark.

During the trek back Nami and Robin discussed where the gold could be hidden but Robin was more interested in finding the lost city then the actual gold as she was eager to learn the lost history of the Island. Zoro tuned the girls out as he just wanted to fight Enel.

When they got back to the lake they stopped and stared in shock and horror at the poor condition the Merry was in. The mast was missing, several arears looked burned like a fire had been lit and with other signs of damage across the Merry's hull. It was clear to the three pirates that a battle had taken place.

"Oh no," Zoro gasped.

"Chopper! Connor! Are you there?" Nami called out desperately from the shore towards the ship, but she received no answer.

"The ship's bordering in destroyed, Chopper and Connor are nowhere to be seen…perhaps they fell in the lake and were torn limb from limb," Robin summarized with a straight face.

"DON'T SAY SUCH MORBID THINGS!" Nami yelled.

"We shouldn't have left them by themselves," Zoro hissed.

"OI CHOPPER, KID IF YOUR THERE COME OUT WHERE WE CAN SEE YOU!" Zoro shouted.

They waited a few minutes and then the door to the cabin opened; Chopper came out and timidly moved into view,

"Hi…guys…"he greeted softly but the others couldn't hear him.

The group breathed a collective sigh of relief, but simultaneously noted that Chopper was wearing a fair number of bandages and looked badly burned. They also noticed that Connor had not come out when called.

"Chopper! You're okay!" Nami cheered.

"That's not the way I would describe him," Robin observed "He is heavily injured,"

"But….where's the kid? He usually comes when he's called," Zoro said.

"We won't know until we get over there," Robin said.

"But how are we going to get back over….we can't swing over, the Alters too high," Nami pointed out.

Suddenly they heard large screams coming from across the lake; they looked in the direction of the noise and saw a tiny boat coming down a cloud road. The sharks also seemed to have heard the screams as they started jumping out of the water and swimming near the surface; eager to get eat the source of the noise.

"Gomu -Gomu no Gatling!" Luffy yelled.

The shout was immediately followed by several familiar sounding anguished roars coinciding with the sound of several harsh punches landing on flesh and all the sharks floated to the surface of the water.

"Took them long enough," Zoro huffed, he was glad to see that the others were here.

"They look injured though," Robin pointed out.

"Nami-chan, Robin-swan…Did you miss me? I overcame the ordeal of love!" Sajni shouted while waving his arm so the girls could see him.

"Yeah there fine," Nami sighed.

The Waver came over to them and Luffy was happy to see that the missing half of his crew had not gone on an adventure without him. Nami had Sanji drive them all back to the Alter and once they were back on the ship did they see how badly damaged the Merry was.

"Damn Chopper, we were only gone for a short time. What kind of remodelling were you doing?" Zoro joked.

Though Chopper did not find it funny, in fact it made him start to cry. Nami hit Zoro for that comment.

"Where's the mast?!" Usopp asked, he was shocked that the Merry was in such poor condition.

"W…W…We were attacked by this priest guy…we tried to stop him but he just kept burning everything." The reindeer said with tears fOhming in his eyes.

Usopp looked at the tiny doctor and he could tell chopper was very upset that he had failed to protect the Merry.

"Are you hurt?" Usopp's question stopped Chopper cold before he continued,

"It's just as well he set the mast on fire and not you right?" Usopp continued with a half-hearted smile, he was truly glad that Chopper was safe.

Chopper burst into tears at Usopps concern.

"I'M SORRY! I'LL BE MORE DEPENDABLE FROM NOW ON…I PROMISE!" Chopper wailed.

"So what happened here?" Sanji asked, once Chopper had calmed down and stopped crying.

Chopper explained that when the priest attacked he had used the safety whistle that had been given to them to summon Gan Fall and that he had prevented Chopper and Connor from being being killed but had been injured in the process.

"So Gan Fall saved you…where is he?" Nami asked.

"In the cabin with Pierre and Connor," Chopper answered.

The entire moved inside the Cabin to see the Sky Knight was resting on the floor in a spare bed while Connor was tucked into Nami's bed. The bird Pierre was sitting nearby, it looked at the pirates as they entered, like Chopper the bird was bandaged up.

"It's crazy; he gave us that whistle for free, and was still willing to risk his life." Luffy stated sombrely.

"Is he going to live?" Usopp asked.

"Yes but it'll be a while before he wakes up," Chopper claimed.

The crew nodded and stared at the Knight in silence, Luffy walked over to Connor and noticed that he too was unconises but unlike the Gan Fall showed very little sign that he was alive.

"Hey…what happened to Connor?" Luffy asked.

"I…I don't know, he was like that when I woke up," Chopper said.

"Woke up…what happened?" Zoro asked.

"After the priest defeated Gan Fall…the Knight fell into the lake along with Pierre…I jumped into save him," Chopper said.

"You jumped into the lake…Chopper you're a Devil fruit user you can't swim," Sanji scolded.

"I know but…I wasn't thinking at the time…and I blacked out after hitting the water" Chopper claimed "When I woke up Me, Gan Fall and Pierre were all back on the stone steps and Connor was like that…only worse off,"

"How worse?" Luffy asked.

"He was unconcise and in a lot of pain," Chopper said "when I brought him back on the ship he seemed to relax a bit but he's been like that ever since,"

"But I though he healed really fast; shouldn't he be up and about by now?" Zoro asked.

"Well whatever's wrong with him I'm sure it will pass," Sanji said.

"How can you be sure?" Robin asked.

"He's recovered from worse injuries," Sanji answered "Anyway with night approaching I think we should camp out in the forest,"

"Why?" Luffy asked.

"You idiot, the ship is badly damaged. If we fought here then we'd never get back to Angel Island," Usopp claimed.

"Oh…okay," Luffy said understanding.

The Straw Hats used the Little Crow to cross back and forth over the lake, first Sanji, Zoro and Luffy went across to establish a safe place to camp. Sanji drove the boat back to get Robin, Usopp and Nami and then once more for Chopper with the still unconscious Gan Fall, his injured bird Pierre and Connor.

However when Sanji took the sleeping boy off the Merry Connor instantly started moaning and struggling in the cooks arms, his face scrunched up and it was clear he was in pain but did not wake up.

"What the hell?" Sanji asked.

Chopper came over to see what was wrong.

"Get him back on board…quick," Chopper said urgently.

Sanji quickly obeyed and the second he stepped back on the ship Connor relaxed and quieted down.

"Oi what the hell just happened?" Sanji asked.

"That happened earlier, he was writhing in pain but it seemed to go away once I brought him on the ship," Chopper claimed.

"So what do we do? We can't leave him here by himself," Sanji said.

"But taking him off causes him pain…and the Knight of the sky needs me more than Connor dose," Chopper said.

"But what if we get attacked?" Sanji asked.

"there more likely to attack us because we'll be a group and if Connor doesn't wake up no one will know he's on the ship," Chopper reasoned.

Sanji sighed he could not argue with that logic and he didn't want to cause Connor any more pain. So he took Connor back into the Cabin and tucked him into bed; Sanji then helped Chopper carry Gan Fall to the small boat.

They managed to get Gan Fall and his bed on the waver boat and headed back to the lakes edge to meet up with the others.

"Where's Connor?" Usopp asked.

Sanji explained to Usopp and the others that Connor would be staying on the ship and how leaving the Merry caused the boy great pain. The rest of the crew were just as surprised as Sanji to hear this as Connor never had any issues leaving the ship before.

Once they were all at the camp site Zoro and chopper went into the forest to look for ingredants for dinner while Sanji started to cook the Sky-Sharks and make a stew. Usopp gathered some wood and was planning on going back to the Merry to start fixing the ship but when he saw that Luffy had not gotten all the sharks he changed his mind.

"I guess the repairs can wait till tomorrow," Usopp stated and headed back to the camp.

Once everyone was back at the camp the crew discussed what they had learned and the main topic was the priest's unusual ability to predict moves using Mantra.

"So Satori knew what you were going to do before you did it?" Robin asked.

Usopp nodded.

"Yeah and he could tell exactly what was going to be inside those surprise balls as well," Usopp claimed.

"The priest Connor and I fought was able to predict our moves too," Chopper said.

"So how did you beat him?" Zoro asked.

"Luffy used his rubber limbs to tie Satori up and hold him in place while I kicked his face in," Sanji answered.

"Yep, I was able to catch him off guard due a big explosion," Luffy smiled.

"YOU NEARLY GOT US KILLED WITH THAT STUNT!" Sanji yelled.

"Wait how do you catch someone who can predict moves off guard?" Chopper asked.

"Don't know, it sounds like this Satori wasn't using this Mantra properly…or he wasn't as proficient in it as the one Chopper and Connor fought," Zoro claimed.

"Moving on from the priests. Robin Zoro and I discovered that Upper Yard is actually part of Jaya," Nami said.

"What…seriously?" Sanji and Luffy and Usopp gasped.

"Yeah, we found the other half of Crickets house," Zoro confirmed.

Nami and Robin nodded.

"Does anyone remember what Noland said in his logbook about the city of gold?" Nami asked.

"I do!" Luffy yelled, raising a hand. "He said that it's a city made out of gold!"

"IF YOUR ONLY GOING TO STATE THE OBVIOSES THEN SHUT UP!" Usopp yelled.

"He talked about strange looking fish," Zoro stated.

"He also mentioned riding a Waver," Usopp remembered.

"He said that the city of gold is in the skull's right eye, but not sure what he meant though," Robin answered.

"Correct!" said Nami, "and with some luck involved, we can be the ones to find it, come look at this."

On her command the crew came over and watched as she produced both a map of Skypiea and a map of modern Jaya, she then lined up the northern side of the Jaya map with the southern side of the map of Skypiea, overlapping the two to produce what was supposedly the original shape of Jaya before it split.

The crew gasped upon seeing what the two maps formed an island in the shape of a skull.

"Hey it's a skull," Luffy pointed out.

"Wait so does that mean when Noland said the gold is in the skulls left eye…he was talking about the shape of the Island?" Usopp asked.

"Remember there was a couple of years gap between when Noland found the city of gold and when he came back. At some point in those couple of years the top half of Jaya got shot up into the sky," Robin explained.

"So if that's the case then our Log Pose was locking onto Jaya the whole time," Sanji said.

"Yes I think because this Island is the bigger land mass the Log locked due to the stronger magnetic field and the eternal pose Robin took is locked onto the weaker pull of the bottom half of Jaya," Nami explained.

"So you have two islands with the same magnetic pull, one stronger then the other but both within the same climate Zone," Usopp summarised.

"That's about it," Nami agreed.

"So if this is the part of the Island where the City of gold is supposed to be…where is it?" Luffy asked.

"Well from the skull perspective the right eye would be this point to the west, where as we are currently just camped off the left eye. In other words, we head a few miles or so west and we will find the city of gold," Nami finished, with a gleam in her eyes.

"Sounds fun!" Luffy cheered.

"But how do we know the gold will still be there?" Usopp asked "It has been over 400 years,"

"Well this place is considered holy and forbidden land right? Maybe it's been left untouched just waiting for someone to find it," Robin theorised "Even if it has been found discovering a lost city is a reward in itself,"

"So here's what we'll do, tomorrow we're going to need to split into two groups." Nami continued "The first group will take the Merry back along the river, to get both Gan Fall and Connor out safely and then to circumnavigate the island. The second group will go to the city of gold and steal everything they can get their hands on then meet up with the second group up on the west coast, where we'll leave sky Island with a boat filled with gold,"

"So…who's going with which group?" Nami asked.

After a lengthy discussion the groups ended up being: Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Connor, Gan Fall and Pierre on the Merry. While Luffy, Zoro, Robin and Chopper heading out to search for the city of gold.

Nami asked Chopper if it was okay to leave Connor and Gan Fall but Chopper assured her that he had done all he could and would leave medicine out for the two, as long as they both rested they would be fine.

"Right! Enough planning! Let's Party!" Luffy cheered before charging off into the forest, eventually returning with an insane amount of lumber for a bonfire.

Despite Namis and Robins protests the night eventually turned into a full-blown party, one large enough to even get the local wildlife involved, Gan Fall woke up not long after the party had started and was curious as to how the normal hostile animals that lived on Upper Yard joined in. The animals danced with the pirates and even got into a few drinking contests.

"Such odd people…" Gan Fall stated as he watched the party.

The Party went on well into the night and even with all the loud noises the pirates were not attacked by the priests or the Shandorn warriors. After every one had there fun and were tired from eating and drinking all night everyone went to sleep.

A few hours later Usopp woke up, he wandered over to the lake to relive himself and he was surprised to see the Altar was surrounded in dense fog. Usopp didn't pay much attention to the fog until he heard the sound of a hammer banging against wood.

Usopp looked towards the ship and he could just make out a small figure dressed in a raincoat hitting the hull with a hammer.

"Is that Connor? What's he doing up?" Usopp wondered.

However the figure stopped what it was doing and turned to look directly at Usopp. Usopp could see very clearly that it was not Connor and that whoever it was did not have a face only a big creepy smile.

"GGGGHHHHHOOOOOSSSSSSTTTTTTTT!" Usopp screamed and promptly fainted.

The figure stared at Usopp's now still fOhm for a few seconds and then turned back and started banging his hammer on the Merry's hull again.

"Just a bit longer…Just a bit more…" the figure said as it continued to hit its hammer against the Merry.

* * *

 _Gods Shrine_

Three men stood outside the entrance to Gods shrine, they were awaiting permission to enter. Shura looked at the two men next to him…he did not like ether of them.

The first was a tall, dark-skinned man. He had an unusual hairstyle, with a row of upward-pointing tufts or rasta-styled dreadlocks from ear to ear and a pair of wings on his back.

He wore a matching purple jacket and pants, black gloves and shoes, a pink shirt, and a blue tie-like scarf around his neck. He sports a large, white tissue belt around his waist with a red circle in his centre, resembling the Japanese flag.

The second was a tall, bald, muscular, and bearded man. He's always seen wearing a pair of sunglasses with point-like extensions on both sides. He wore a dark-green A-shirt, loose grey pants with many pockets and what look like zips under his knees, a long and flowing white sash around his waist and dark leather boots with bandages around the soles.

His right arm is covered with tattoos He carried a massive white sword with an extra-large hilt and pair of small wings sprouting from his back.

An attendant eventually came out and led the men in, they followed the attendant to the throne room, once there the men approached the throne and got on their knees, bowing to god.

God was a tall, muscular man with light hair covered by a simple white bandana; He has extremely long earlobes weighted down by diamond-shaped gold earrings that stretch all the way to his chest. He wore loose, orange pants with a black pattern on them, and around his waist there is a blue, flowing sash, holding up a light-blue veil.

He also wore gold bracelets on both his arms and legs, and two little gold rings around his bigger toes. Enel prefers to go barefoot. He always carries a gold staff with him which he sometimes uses in battle. He had four large Tomoe drums attached via a large ring to his back, instead of the regular Skypiean wings.

"Ah…you've come, Ohm, Shura and Gedatsu ," God said with a smile.

"Lord Enel, it is an honour for us to serve you," The bald man said.

"Cut the crap Ohm," Shura snapped he turned to Enel "Why did you call us?"

Enel smiled.

"I'm setting up a game and I want you all to play," Enel grinned.

"A…A game?" the one with the odd hairstyle asked.

"Yes Gedatsu, the Shandians are going to unleash a full assault on the Island tomorrow," Enel claimed.

"So they attack every other week," Shura scoffed "they show up, we kick there buts and then they scurry back to their hidden village like the rats they are. Only to repeat the cycle the next week,"

"As much as I hate to agree with the bird brain," Ohm started.

"Hey watch it," Shun growled.

"He's right; the Shandians are just minor entertainment for us…target practice. Why would you want to make a game out of it now?" Ohm asked.

"This time's different, this time they are going to fight to the last man standing," Enel grinned.

"So they finally decided to give up…suicide is a cowards way out," Shura claimed.

"It's not suicide if you die in battle," Gedatsu pointed out.

"If it's against us it is," Shura said.

"What are the rules of this game?" Ohm asked.

"It's very simple really, the last man standing wins," Enel said.

"That's it?" Shura asked "seems unfair to the Shandians,"

"Well there are a few minor details I could add…how about this then. You three can have free reign over the Island, you will not be restricted to your areas and can set up your ordeals where ever you want," Enel said.

"Still seems unfair," Shura said.

"However you will not be allowed to enter the game until…say two hours in, until then your restricted to your areas," Enel said.

"If we're restricted to our area then who is going to fight the Shandians?" Ohm asked.

"I'll send my guards in, that should keep them busy for a while," Enel shrugged.

"What if the Shandians enter our Ordeal areas before we join in the game?" Gedatsu asked.

"Then they are yours to do with however you see fit, its business as normal until you can enter the game," Enel claimed.

"What of the Blue Sea dwellers? Are they part of this game too?" Shura asked.

"Ah..them…"Enel said and stared off into space for a moment.

"Well they did make it to the Alter before I came up with this game…I suppose they can go," Enel supposed "However if they are still on the Island tomorrow when the game starts…consider them contestants,"

"Actually consider anyone who on the Island a contestant…but those in gods shine are safe, I don't want you destroying my house," Enel said.

"When dose this survival game start?" Ohm asked.

"Survival Game…yes I suppose it is a Survival Game. It starts when the first Shandia warrior steps on this island. Once they do I'll unleash my guards and two hours after that you tree may enter," Enel said.

"So we keep killing until the last Shandians on the Island is dead," Shura grinned.

"Well we want a few alive…someone to tell the story and all. Lest say…six, the game ends when all but six participants are dead," Enel said.

The priests all grinned; Enel dismissed them and they all left to rest up for the game tomorrow. They all knew that tomorrow was going to be a good day.


	44. Skypia Pt 8

_**A.N I own Nothing**_

 _ **Please Review**_

* * *

When morning came it seemed that everyone had recovered mostly from the night's festivities, there was one exception. Usopp was still freaking out over the ghost he saw on the ship last night, the crew used the little crow to cross the lake and when they got to the top of the Alter they were shocked to find the Merry fully repaired.

"What?...How?" Usopp asked.

The crew quickly bordered the ship and inspected the repairs, all the damage done to the shop in the battle with Shuna had been repaired; even the mast was back.

"See, I told you I saw someone on the ship," Usopp said.

"But who? There's no one out here but us and our enemies," Zoro stated.

"Maybe there's someone else on this island," Luffy suggested.

"Doubt it, even if there was someone nice out here how did they know what the Merry originally looked like?" Usopp asked.

"That's a good point, considering the flight mode is gone," Chopper stated.

"Dose it really matter? The ships repaired. Are we really going to chase down some mystery figure for doing a good deed?" Nami asked.

"Good point," Luffy said "Well whoever it was is a nice guy,"

"Maybe Connor saw who it was, he was on the ship last night," Chopper pointed out.

Suddenly the crew got a terrible thought, if there was someone on the ship last night then they could have easily run off with Connor. Zoro ran to the cabin and threw open the door, Much to his relief Connor was still in the bed, but he was still asleep. Zoro breathed a sigh of relief and left closing the door behind him.

"Well the kids still there…whoever it was left him alone or didn't know he was here," Zoro said.

"Considering a lot of the tools and supplies are kept in the men's quarters and the cabin wasn't damaged. It's safe to assume the latter," Robin reasoned.

"Yeah…but who would repair the Merry and why would they leave Connor alone? Whoever it was could have grabbed him easily," Sanji pointed out "Not to mention they did a pretty poor job on the repairs,"

"They may not be the best repairs but at least the ship will sail now," Nami pointed out.

Usopp walked up to the Merry's figure head and stared at it thoughtfully.

"Merry…just who was here last night?" Usopp asked.

He did not get a response.

"But how do we get it back into the water?" Luffy asked, pulling the sniper from his thoughts.

"I have an idea," Usopp said "But I'll need Choppers help,"

It turns out that Usopp's plan was to Lasso a Sky-Shark by using Choppers hybrid from as bait. It did not take long for a shark to try and eat the tiny doctor. Usopp was successful and it did not take long for the shark to pull the Merry down the stairs and into the lake.

Zoro severed the rope used to pull the Merry so the ship would not be dragged under the water. Once the Merry was back by the shore Chopper and Sanji helped Gan Fall and Pierre onto the ship. Chopper changed their bandages and checked on Connor before he left with the search party.

Sanji and Robin were busy gathering supplies that they would need to locate the city of gold. Once all the supplies had been packed and Chopper was satisfied with the conditions of his patients; Luffy, Robin, Zoro and Chopper all left the ship and started walking into the forest.

"Good luck you guys! Zoro try not to get lost!" Nami shouted after them as they walked into the forest.

"Lost…What's she talking about?" Zoro asked and started heading North.

"Hey Zoro! You're going the wrong way! We're supposed to be going West," Luffy called after the Swordsman while pointing West…or at least what he thought was west.

"Wait. He's going east though…"Chopper stated, immediately noticing Luffy's mistake.

"No you idiot! The City of gold is in the Skulls right eye…that means we have to go Right. Which means west so it's this way!" Zoro argued back and pointed directly to Luffy's right.

It appeared that Zoro did not quite understand that 'Right' and 'West' weren't always the same thing. Robin laughed at the crews antics as they argued over which way was West, none of them were pointing in the right direction.

Once Robin had infromed the group of the correct direction which was actually South they started off with Robin leading them. They were all excited about finding a city made entirely out of gold.

"Hey Robin, that Journal said there was a solid gold bell in the city right?" Luffy asked.

"That's right apparently it's huge and but the sound it makes is the most beautiful sound," Robin answered.

"So if I ring it…do you think those salvage guys will hear it?" Luffy asked.

"Perhaps, I wouldn't be able to tell you until I saw it…the bell would have to be enormous for the sound to carry that far," Robin explained.

"Well when we find it…I want to ring it," Luffy claimed.

"You would have to hit it pretty hard," Zoro stated.

"Then I'll hit it with a an even bigger chunk of gold," Luffy declared "I'll hit it so hard that the gold I'm using will shatter,"

"Really that's so cool," Chopper said admiringly.

"Where will you get such a big piece of gold?" Robin asked.

"Mmm….don't know, I'll figure it out later," Luffy answered, he clearly had not thought this plan through.

They continued to walk through he forest and Luffy picked up to play with, Chopper mimicked him by finding a stick of his own and the two began to have a play sword fight. Zoro was not impressed and kept commenting that if they were real swords they would have lost several limbs.

As they walked Chopper was happy looking at the scenery and he suddenly noticed that the path they had taken was blocked off by a giant blue tree root. He stopped and stared at it.

'That's odd…didn't we just come from there?' Chopper thought.

Chopper walked up to it and poked it with his stick. Much to his surprise the root moved slightly.

'What the hell?! It moved?' Chopper panicked.

"Oi Chopper don't fall behind," Zoro called back.

Chopper looked over at the group and ran to catch up with them, once he caught up he looked back at the suspiciously root only to see it move again.

The group continued to walk through the forest and every now and then Chopper would look over his shoulder and see that the mysterious root was in fact following them. He contemplated telling the others but he did not want to appear scared or crazy.

Chopper was not paying attention and he bumped into the back of Luffy's leg. He looked up and saw that the group had stopped.

"Why have we stopped?" the doctor asked.

"There is as big blue root in our way," Luffy answered.

Chopper froze up.

"A…A…A big blue root?" Chopper studded.

He looked past the others and saw the same root was indeed in front of him; Chopper then looked behind him and saw that the root was behind them as well.

"Oh well nothing to do but slice through," Zoro said as he drew one of his swords and walked towards the root.

"No wait," Chopper tried.

But it was too late Zoro did a few quick slashes but instead of being sliced into several neat part the root remained intact.

"What the…I know I hit it," Zoro said.

Suddenly the rot began to move and the sound of trees falling and something heavy being dragged along the ground was herd.

"Wait is….is this root alive?" Zoro asked taking a step back.

"Well technically all tree roots are alive," Robin commented.

"I know that...hold on…it's moving?" Zoro panicked.

The root was indeed moving and Luffys eyes turned to stars.

"Wow a moving root…does this mean the trees move too?" Luffy asked excitedly.

The pirates watched in shock and aw as the roots moved and slowly got taller, eventually a giant snakes head appeared and it stared down at them.

"Aww….it's only a giant snake, that's a shame," Luffy said disappointingly.

Zoro and Chopper looked at him with fear and shock. It was only now that Luffy realised what he had just said.

"GAINT SNAKE! RUNNNNNN!" Luffy screamed.

The pirates turned and ran and the snake chased after them hissing loudly as it knocked over trees and ploughed through roots as it went.

* * *

 _On the Merry_

The Merry slowly made its way along on of the milky roads that ran through the Upper Yard. The ship had sailed from the Alter down the cloud river and eventually came to the road that the super speedy ship had used to bring them to the Alter in the first place.

Because there was no wind on the level of the forest that the Merry was on being pushed along by the Little Crow, it was slow going but at least the ship was no longer trapped on the Alter and there did not seem to be any Sky-Sharks on this route.

Everyone was on deck except for Connor who was still sleeping in the cabin.

"Man this is taking for ever," Usopp moaned.

"Well what did you expect? There's no wind on the forest floor," Nami pointed out "Honestly with that boat we would be rowing our way back,"

"I know…but can't it go any faster?" Usopp responded.

"No we don't know how much the dials can take or if they burn out. It's better to take a steady pace," Sanji answered.

Suddenly loud crashes were herd through the forest.

"What was that?" Usopp asked fearfully.

"If I had to guess…it's probably Luffy," Sanji sighed.

"How do you know that?" Usopp asked.

"Because it's always him," Sanji answered.

"Yeah…that's a fair point," Usopp agreed.

The stood there listing to the sounds of crashing and wondered just what kind of trouble their captain had gotten into this time.

"He better not be destroying the city of gold," Nami said.

Usopp sighed; he should have known that that was what Nami was worried about.

* * *

 _With Zoro_

Zoro finally stopped running, the giant snake had chased him and the rest of the crew that had been with him but he finally got away from it. Once he caught his breath Zoro looked around, he did not see his friends anywhere.

"Damn where the hell did they go?" Zoro asked.

"They probably got lost again…what a pain in the ass," Zoro sighed "Oh well I suppose if head to the golden city I'll meet up with them there,"

Zoro looked around trying to determine which way the city of gold was, he had no idea where he was or which way to go.

"Let's see… the city was in a Westley direction. If I recall correctly," Zoro said "Now west is left,"

Zoro started to walk through the forest heading in the direction that he believed to be west. The fact was that he headed right instead of left and was heading in a northern direction. It was not long until he came to the cloud lake and in the centre of the lake was the Alter.

"What the hell….how did I get back here?" Zoro asked.

He headed back into the forest and after a bout ten minutes of walking he was back at the same spot on the river with a clear view of the Alter.

"What the hell…don't tell me this whole Island moves," Zoro said.

Suddenly Zoro heard a flapping of wings behind him, he turned to see a giant South Bird had landed behind him and his head was pointing ti the right. The bird looked at him with interested eyes, though they were mainly focused on his backpack where Zoro's lunch was.

Zoro looked at the bird.

"What the hell…what's up with this birds head?" Zoro asked not recognising it as a south bird.

* * *

 _With Chopper_

Chopper poked his head out of his hiding spot; he looked around for the snake but could not see it or his friends. Like the others he too had run away from the giant reptile. However he had separated from the others and had managed to find a hiding spot under a real tree root and had hid until the beast had passed by and he could no longer here it crashing through the trees.

Chopper slowly came out of his hiding spot and looked at the destruction that the snake had left behind.

"Wo would have thought that something like that lived up here," Chopper said "Oh well better find the others.

It was only now that he realised that he was all alone and had no idea where he was.

"OH NO…I'M LOST!" Chopper yelled.

He suddenly heard the sound of a bazooka nearby and darted back into his hiding spot. A Shandorian warrior appeared in the clearing and scanned the area.

"That's odd…I thought I heard someone yelling," the warrior said.

"Hey what the hell are you doing?" Wiper asked harshly as he landed on a tree branch above the warrior.

"I thought I heard someone yell," the warrior answered.

Wiper scanned the area but did not see anyone here.

"Your imaging things get back to finding those dammed priests," Wiper ordered and he sped off into the forest.

The warrior sighed.

"I was sure I heard something though," He said, he took one last look at the area before following Wiper into the forest.

Chopper was shaking in fear in his hiding spot, once he herd the Shandorians leave he breathed a sigh of relief and slumped down to the ground.

"There gone….good," Chopper said.

He looked down sadly.

"I'm weak…why am I so weak? I only came because I thought I would be safe with Luffy," Chopper said "How can I be a brave pirate if I'm always afraid?"

Chopper sat there for a bit thinking on how he could be a better pirate and more useful to Luffy. He did not want to rely on the others but they were just so strong and he wasn't, he also wanted to be more dependable but he did not know how to go about it; then he got an Idea.

"Oh I know, I'll find the city of gold first….then when they see that I found it'll prove I can be dependable," Chopper said.

Chopper stood up and ran out into the forest, determined to find the city of gold first.

* * *

 _With Luffy_

Luffy walked through the forest alone carefree and happy. After having outrun the giant snake he had no idea which direction to go, thankfully he remembered a song from his youth that he had herd sailors sing whenever they came into town.

"The Islands in the north are cold," Luffy remembered "So If I go where to where it's warm then that means I'm going south,"

Luffy picked a random direction and started walking; he sang his song while he walked. As he walked he heard sounds of fighting but he ignored them, suddenly he saw something in the corner if his eye fly past.

"Huh…was that a goat?" Luffy asked looking around for it.

"Why would a goat be in the forest…they live in mountains," Luffy wondered

Luffy was to distracted by the mystery goat to notice that he was being watched, the person watching hem leaped out and attacked him but Luffys reflexes were to quick. The pirate whirled around and took out his attacker with one punch.

The attacker fell to the ground; Luffy got a good look at him. The man looked like part man part goat, and he was wearing a white toga.

"Aww….it's just some jerk. I was hoping it would be a goat," Luffy said disappointingly.

He sighed before continuing on, Luffy had not walked far when he heard a voice call out to him.

"Hey," the called.

Luffy stopped and looked up to see Wiper was on a tree root above him.

"What the hell are you doing here? Didn't you find the Alter?" Wiper asked.

"Oh yeah I found it yesterday," Luffy answered.

"Then get off this Island," Wiper demanded

"Shut up, don't tell me what to do. I can do what I want and go where I want,"

"No you can't, this Island belongs to my people so that means you're trespassing," Wiper said.

"Huh….but I thought it belonged to god," Luffy responded confused.

"It doesn't,"

"Oh….Sorry for intruding then," Luffy said with an apolitically bow.

Wiper raised his eyebrow at this. Luffy then started to walk away.

"Wait," Called out.

"What? I already apologised," Luffy whined.

"Are you planning on leaving this island?" Wiper asked.

"Nope," Luffy answered.

"I see….then I will just have to eliminate you," Wiper said and he raised his bazooka at Luffy.

"If that's all you wanted you should have said that in the first place," Luffy said with a grin and he got into a fighting stance.

* * *

 _With Robin_

After having been separated from the rest of the group by the giant Snake Robin had contuied south in search of the city of gold, she had the sneaking suspicion that she would be the first and only one to reach the lost city because of the very poor sense of directions that the Luffy, Zoro and Chopper had displayed.

She walked for a about twenty minutes and she came across some very old ruins. Robin knew that this was not the city as there was not enough remains to even consider it a small town. However her thirst for knowledge and her curiosity got the better of her and she began to study the left over writing on the ruins.

Robin had been busy examining the structures she had found, there was no material wealth to be found here but the buildings were still historically fascinating.

Suddenly three men who appeared to resemblance to goats, leapt out from the tall trees. Without warning they raised their hands and prepared to kill the intruder.

"Die intruder!" The men cried.

"Cien Fleur," Robin said.

Hands suddenly appeared on the goat men's shoulders, the enforcers did not have time to react as the hands snapped all three of their necks and they fell to the ground. Robin never broke eye contact with the ancient structure in front of her.

She continued to study the ruins that she had found and went from one structure to the next until she found a huge wall with ancient writing on it. Robin began to read it and wrote down notes.

After reading most of the writing Robin made a remarkable discovery.

"Interesting…according to this the city of Shandora was built around 800 years ago. Too replace a destroyed civilization that had existed years before it," Robin concluded "Does this mean…these ruins could hold the key to the void century,"

Suddenly a massive object flew at her, just about visible from the corner of her eye. She able to dodge in time but the plaque she was reading had been completely destroyed. Robin stood back up and glared at the person who would dare destroy such a valuable piece of history, as she had not finished documenting it yet and now it was lost forever.

The object it turned out, was a person, he stood up and dusted the debris off him.

He was an obese man with a triple chin. He had a round body shape with wavy black hair and tanned skin. He has bags under his eyes and thick lips. He wore a white toga with black vertical stripes, three on each side, an orange sash, connected by strings some gold bracelets and a pair of wings on his back.

A sneer was clearly visible on his face, in spite of the best efforts made by his several chins to obscure it.

Robin could only stare, shocked at the man's callous disregard for priceless history, she would not forgive him for this.


	45. Skypia Pt 9

_**A.N I own Nothing  
**_

 _ **Sorry this took so long to get up, it's been a busy few weeks for me. I went on holiday and then I got really sick from a bug I picked up while on holiday. Plus there was a lot to cover.**_

 _ **Please Review**_

* * *

 _Going Merry, Milky Road_

The Merry continued along its way back to the edge of Upper Yard, Gan Fall, in an effort to occupy the time on their long journey back along the Milky Road had decided to tell the history of Upper Yard to the straw hats on the ship.

He explained that things brought up by the Knock Up Stream were considered treasures in Skypeian culture, this is because they did not know what the world below was like and due to the fact that Skypiea was a society based off Clouds and Diels it resources were limited by what the clouds could make and produce.

However the blue sea had no such limitations so whenever objects came up they were always met with curiosity and awe.

"So things that we use every day are considered treasures up here?" Sanji asked.

"Yes but the most sought after tressure is Verth," Gan Fall claimed.

"Verth…don't you mean Earth?" Nami asked.

"If that is what you call it then yes. You see because we live on clouds growing things like vegetables and fruit is difficult. However Verth has always grown the healthiest and nutritious plants, so it is considered the most holist of treasures," Gan Fall claimed.

"So what does this have to do with Upper Yard and the Shandorins?" Usopp asked.

"When Upper Yard burst into the sky…it was the largest amount of Verth anyone had ever seen, the People were shocked, greed overtook them. The amount of life-bearing potential of Vearth blinded them to all else…even the fact that it was inhabited," Gan Fall claimed.

"So, the Skypieans just invaded Upper Yard and forced the surviving Shandorins out of their own home because they wanted some dirt?" Sanji asked.

"That is correct. This happened over 400 years ago, but you must understand their reasoning."

"No. There is no excuse or any justification for invading and forcing people out of their homes," Nami snapped back.

"You are right there is not," Gan Fall conceded. "But I am not justifying anything; I am explaining their reasons, however weak they may be,"

"So what about the Shandorns? Did no one ever wonder why they were on Upper Yard or Care that they had been brought up against their will?" Usopp asked.

"No…our greed blinded us to their plight. We should have helped them or accepted that the Shandorans who were brought up with the island lived there but we didn't. The battle did not last long as the Shandorins had no knowledge of Sky-warfare and in the end they were chased from their home," Gan Fall finished.

"They were frightened and confused…but we attacked them and all it brought was a war that has lasted over 400 years,"

"So what about Enel?" Sanji asked suddenly. "Where the hell does he come into this?"

Gan Fall seemed to stare into open space for a while, seemingly thinking back, and judging by his expression his thoughts were not pleasant ones.

"Enel and his priests had invaded from another Sky Island six years ago. He and the priests enslaved my guards and the inhabitants of Skypia, back when I was God," Gan Fall claimed.

"Enel is dangerous. His priests are lethal, your friends are going to need to work together and work efficiently to defeat him," Gan Fall claimed.

"Wait you were the God before Enel? Why did you not try and end the fighting?" Nami asked.

"I did, but nothing short of forfeiting Upper Yard to the Shandorins was enough, I tried to find a peaceful soliton but the Shandorins would not here any of them," Gan Fall answered.

"If all they wanted was their Island back then why not just give it to them?" Sanji asked.

"Because by that time we Skypians had come to depend on it for our survival. We could not give it up, doing so would set us back hundreds of years, not to mention our society had been a lot more prosperous ever since we had first taken Upper Yard 400 years ago," Gan Fall claimed.

"So it was a case of an impossible choice. You wanted piece but you weren't willing to risk your own people for it," Usopp claimed.

"Yes I admit it was wrong to put my people over the needs of the Shandorans but I was trying to find a solution that would keep both our people happy," Gan Fall explained.

Once Gan Fall had finished explain the history of Skypiea Usopp asked about Sky warfare, Gan Fall explained about the different types of Dials that could be found in a house but had been converted into weapons.

"Heat Dials like the ones used in ovens can be added to weaponry to allow a weapon to ignite whatever it touches." Gan Fall explained, the crew immediately thought of the priest Shura and the bun damage done to the Merry.

"Flame Dials can be placed in the mouth of the user to give the appearance of their user being capable of breathing fire." Gan Fall continued

"And that… is an Impact Dial." Gan Fall delivered as the crew-members assembled watched.

Gan Fall had simply asked Sanji to hit the top of the shell, when Sanji proceeded to kick the top of the shell they were surprised to see that not only did Sanji not kick a hole straight through the deck, the shell didn't even move.

The cook was then told to place the shell against a barrel on deck, and activate it, the second Sanji hit the button on the back of the Dial it activated and all the force absorbed from Sanji's kick was blasted outwards. The Barrel was blown to thousands of pieces and Sanji was sent flying by the Impact.

Ignoring Sanji's continuous whacks to his head for not warning him about the backlash, Gan Fall then explained about other Dials used in combat.

"Impact Dials and their much stronger cousins Reject Dials can be used to absorb attacks and re-apply them."

Usopp and Sanji recalled the fight with Satori and his use of Impact Dials, these things had the potential to harm even Luffy who was by far the toughest member of the crew.

"So Satori was using Impact Dials against us," Sanji realised.

"Wish we had known that earlier," Usopp huffed.

Blue Sea dwellers do not understand Diels and Sky-warfare, that is why they do not survive up here and often fall victim to the priests," Gan Fall claimed.

"So what about Mantara? How does that work?" Sanji asked.

"That is different, anyone can use Diels because they are common objects, but Mantara is something on a whole other level," Gan fall claimed.

"So what does it do?" Nami asked.

"Well from what I understand every living thing whether it be plants, animals or people has a voice. As long as there alive so is that voice. Mantara is the ability to hear that voice," Gan Fall claimed.

"So Mantara is like hearing a person's life force….or Aura?" Usopp asked.

"Yes, if you can hear the voice than you can predict what a person is going to do next. I myself cannot use it not do I know whether it can be taught or you have to be born with it,"

"Is there any way to block out the voice?" Nami asked. She was hoping to find some advantage over Enel and his men.

"Yes, you must die, only then will the voice be silenced," Gan fall said gravely.

"So I'm guessing Enel can use Mantara too," Usopp said.

"Yes and so can his priests, Enel can hear everything on Skypiea Island…it's how he knows who to send his divine punishment too," Gan Fall claimed.

"I see…so that's why everyone was avoiding us in town," Usopp said.

"Had they interfered Enel would have known and struck them down," Sanji said gravely.

Suddenly a flash of light appeared, blinding the crew for a second.

"Nah my aims pretty spot on," a new voice said, once the flash had passed.

Everyone on the ship tuned to the source of the voice and there sitting on the railing was Enel. He raised one hand as a greeting.

"Yo," he said.

"E…E…Enel…" Gan Fall gasped.

"Wait he's Enel?!" Usopp panicked.

"You basted!" Sanji yelled.

He rushed to the god, launching a kick at him, however the kick never landed though as in another flash of light, Sanji dropped to the floor, smoke emanating from his body which had seemingly been burnt to a crisp.

"Sanji!" Nami screamed.

Nami ran over to the fallen cook to check on Sanji as Usopp aimed his slingshot at the intruder, who was sitting on the ship's railing with a board look.

"He's not breathing…." Nami panicked as she tried to revive Sanji.

Usopp looked in fear at the intruder and even though he was very clearly afraid he drew his weapon and pointed it at Enel.

"Hey you….What did you do to Sanji….You better not try it again or my 8,000 followers will kill you," the sniper cried, his eyes watering in fear as he loaded his slingshot.

Enel gave him a board look.

"If…If you leave now then I'll let you live," Usopp declared.

Enel vanished in an instant, for a brief second Usopp thought he had frightened the god off but Enel repapered directly in front of the sniper. He placed his index finger against the sniper's head and with another flash, Usopp crumpled to the ground, looking just as badly burned as Sanji.

"Usopp!" Nami cried, staring at their attacker.

"You fiend, why did you do that?" Gan Fall demanded.

"What? They attacked me," Enel answered.

He then looked at Nami and sent a murderers glare at her.

"Scream and you die," He warned.

Nami instantly covered her mouth with her hands and nodded, she was completely and utterly frozen in fear. Enel turned his attention back to Gan Fall.

"Now that all interruptions have been dealt with…I can get down to business," Enel smiled.

"I see…you're here to kill me," Gan Fall said.

"Huh? Why would you think that?" Enel asked.

"Because I've been saving people and attacking your priest's non-stop for the last six years," Gan Fall stated.

"Oh yeah…you have hmmm…well let's just say that I forgive you," Enel said.

"Really?" Gan Fall asked suspiciously.

"Sure, I mean you were a real pain but your actions were not entirely unwelcome. Do you know how boring it was, everyone afraid to speak up or stand up…you were a welcome distraction," Enel claimed "I mean I didn't kill you for the same reason I didn't wipe out the Shandorins,"

"So I was nothing more than entertainment to you?" Gan Fall asked.

"Call it however you want," Enel shrugged.

"So if you're not here to kill me then why are you here?" Gan Fall asked.

"Oh right I came to tell you that I'm leaving," Enel claimed.

"Leaving? Gan Fall asked.

"Yep, you can be god again if you want…I don't care," Enel claimed.

"Just like that? No fight, no conditions…you're just up and leaving?" Gan Fall asked in surprise.

"Yep, the shines empty right now so if you want go ahead and take it,"

"So I go back there and it's mine again…do you think I'm an idiot?" Gan Fall asked.

"No I think you're an annoying old man but…you're the most qualified to replace me so…go ahead and take back your throne,"

Gan Fall did not trust Enel, however if it was true that the tyrant was leaving then he would not waste this chance.

"When will you be gone?" Gan Fall asked.

"Sometime in the next couple of hours…maybe three or four hours…I have to make preparations after all,"

"Then you won't mind if I wait until your gone for good then," Gan Fall said.

"Hey do whatever you want, but just don't wait too long," Enel advised cryptically.

Gan Fall narrowed his eyes, he wondered what Enel meant by that.

"Well I should head off, things to do, preparations to make and all. I'd say it's been fun but…well I haven't started yet," Enel clamed and disappeared in a flash of light.

Nami stared in fear at the spot where Enel had disappeared from, she didn't say a word fearing the god would come back and smite her. Gan Fall noticed Namis petrified state and gently put his and on her shoulder.

"Miss…Miss, are you alright?" Gan Fall asked gently.

This snapped Nami out of it and she looked at the old knight in fear.

"H…H…He…" Nami stuttered.

"Do not worry he is gone now," Gan Fall assured "and we should take care of your friends,"

Gan Fall looked at the charred bodies of Usopp and Sanji, pushing her fear aside she nodded. Nami went over to examine them; she was no doctor but knew some first aid. Thankfully neither one was dead but at the same time they were barely alive.

"We should move them into the Cabin," Nami claimed.

Gan Fall Nodded, while he himself was still recovering from his fight; the old man called Pierre over and had the bird turn into his horse form and help carry the too injured pirates into the Cabin. Once inside Nami made two makeshift beds out of spare blankets and laid them down on them.

She looked over at Connor who was still sleeping in the bed; the whole point of sailing the Merry off the Island was to avoid situations like this.

"Chopper….where are you when we need you?" Nami asked before walking back out onto the deck.

* * *

 _A Swamp area on Upper Yard_

Chopper was exploring some ruins he had found, he was looking around for the others and completely unaware that he was being watched with curiosity by Priest Gedatsu. The priest had been dealing with the Shandorin warriors who were foolish enough to challenge him; they had not been much of a threat.

However when a tiny bipedal animal had walked into his ordeal Gedatsu had been intrigued and watched the little creature explore the ruins, he had not attacked right away because the local wildlife was not part of Enel's game and he had never seen such a creature before.

"A Tanuki? What's it doing here?" Gedatsu wondered.

* * *

 _Cloud River, Going Merry_

Nami walked back out onto the deck, she let out along sigh.

"Are they going to be alright?" Gan Fall asked

"I think so, Sanji and Usopp are tough," Nami claimed, though she was not convinced.

"What about that boy. Any change?" Gan Fall asked.

Nami shook her head.

"No, he's still out," Nami claimed.

Gan Fall was about to respond when he heard the light tap of two people touching down on deck. Both Nami and Gan fall looked over to see two intruders on the deck. They had goat like heads and they're bodies were shaped like giant balls. They wore white jumpsuits with a white sash, orange shoes and gloves. They also had yellow sunglasses that cover up their eyes completely.

"What now?!" Nami asked irritably

"I'm Hotori!" one sang.

"And I'm Kotori!" the other continued.

"And we'll make you pay for what you did to our brother Satori," they said together.

"Brother?" Nami asked.

"One of Enels Priests is there older brother," Gan Fall claimed.

"Wait…wasn't that the one Luffy and the others beat?" Nami asked.

"Indeed, it is likely they want revenge," Gan Fall claimed and he picked up his lance "Stand back, I may be injured but I can easily take care of these two clowns,"

"We're not clowns," Both Hotori and Kotori declared.

Nami however brought out her Climate Tact and got into a fighting position. Gann Fall and Nami were fully prepared to fight Hotori and Kotori however the two invaders grabbed each other's arms and started running around in circles.

"W…What are they doing?" Nami asked.

"Probably some cheap and childish trick," Gran Fall stated "We need to know what kind of Dials they have,"

Suddenly one of the two brothers flew out of the spin and out stretched his arm at Nami, Nami froze thinking that she had been caught and instead of being blasted by something dangerous she got a face full of farts.

"What is that…it stinks," Nami complained as she coughed.

"It's my farts, I stored it in a flavour Dial," Kotori said.

"WHY WOULD YOU BRING THAT INTO A BATTLE!" Nami screamed.

"Why indeed," Hotroi said.

Gan Fall rushed into the fray, seeing as the two brothers were distracted by Nami. He lunged his lace at Hotori but Kotori got in his way with his hand outstretched. Gan Fall brought his cloak in front of him to shield him from and attack but all he got was farts.

"Your tricks won't work on me," Gan Fall said.

Kotori jumped back and was replaced with Hotori.

"Burn," Hotori said and raised his hand and flames sprayed out from it.

Fire blasted across the deck and when it died down there was a hole in the railing on the side of the ship and Gan Fall was nowhere to be seen.

"Got him," Hotroi said.

Suddenly Gan Fall sprang back up over the side of the ship and lunged at Kotori, he slicked him with his lance before knocking both brothers off the ship.

"I got one but the other will be back," Gan Fall said.

Nami got an idea and ran down to the lower deck of the ship she ran over to Pierre and put on Gan Falls gauntlet just as Hotori jumped back up onto the ship.

"HOW DARE YOU DO TH-HMPH!" Hotori started but was cut off when Nami jumped and landed on his face.

"Impact," She said and slammed the palm of the gantlet down on Hotoris face.

Nami and Hotori were sent flying back in opposite directions and Nami was caught by Pierre. She screamed in pain from the force of the Impact Dial.

"AGGGGGGHHHHH THAT ALMOST BLEW MY ARM OFF!" Nami cried.

"Using an Impact Dial dose have that effect, but you did a good job," Gan Fall claimed.

Nami looked at the old knight and blushed a bit from his praise; she was very pleased with herself that she had protected both the ship and the crew. Suddenly the door to the Cabin opened both Gan Fall and Nami looked over at the door and in a mix of shock and relief.

Connor was rubbing his eyes and held his sword in his hand.

"Hey…I heard noises…what did I miss?" Connor asked tiredly.

Nami stared at Connor in for a few seconds; Connor loomed around noticing the ship was moving ant it was not on the Alter anymore.

"Why are we moving…what happened to the Alter?" Connor asked confused.

Nami smiled and walked over to him, she knelt down so she was eye level with the boy.

"Are you okay?" Nami asked concerned.

"I'm fine…a little tired and sore but fine," Connor claimed.

"You sure?"

Connor nodded.

"What happened? We found you unconises and in a lot of pain," Nami asked.

"Oh that….I left the ship…" Connor said in a small voice.

"So?" Nami asked.

"Back at Angel beach, when we were getting ready to leave…Luffy told me to stay on the ship until he and the others came back…but I left it," Connor said.

Namis eyes went wide, she remembered that.

"So…you were being punished then," Nami said sadly.

Connor nodded.

"Yes," Connor confirmed.

"But…if you knew you would be punished why did you leave the ship?" Nami asked.

"Because chopper jumped into the cloud lake save the wired knight and his bird, he couldn't swim so I jumped into save them…only when I got out…I couldn't make it back to the ship before I passed out from the pain," Connor said shamefully.

"So you jumped into them and carried them back up to the top of the Alter…while being punished?" Nami asked.

Connor nodded.

"It hurt a lot," he admitted "The longer I was off the ship the worse it got,"

Nami pulled Connor into a hug she could not belive he did something so brave and so stupid at the same time…but then again he was sailing with the Straw Hats. Nami made a mental note to talk to Luffy about this later and have him give Connor permission to disobey orders if the situation called for it.

"Umm….so…what happened? Why are we moving?" Connor asked.

Nami let him go and she explained what had happened while Connor had been recovering. While Nami was explain things Gan Fall put his Armor on and decided to investigate Enel's claims of Gods Shrine being empty.

Nami complained about him leaving her alone but Enel gave a quick apology before taking off on Pierre, leaving Nami with Connor.

"So…Upper yard is the other half of Jaya…and it has the city of gold that Noland found," Connor summarised.

"Yep, I'm taking the ship to the outer shore of the Island where we will meet up with Luffy and the others who will have stolen all the gold," Nami explained.

"So…Luffy, Usopp and Sanji came back to the ship then?" Connor asked.

"Yeah, last night," Nami confirmed "we were all on it,"

Connor nodded, if Luffy had returned to the ship that meant he would no longer be unable to leave, it also meant that if the situation demanded it he could leave the ship without worry or fear of being punished again.

Not too long after Nami had brought Connor up to speed on the current events the Merry had been intercepted by a small waver which had emerged from the forest. The waver carried Conis and Pagaya along with a small girl that looked younger than Connor.

Nami was happy to see the two were safe and that Enel had not killed them, though she was curious on how they came out of the forest on a river that was not there. Pagaya showed them a Milky diel that allowed for new paths of cloud to be created, he explained that by using these dials they were able to cut straight through the island in record time; Pagaya brought extras for the straw hats to use to escape Upper Yard.

By using the dials the Merry and its passengers began to follow a new current, one that would take them straight out to the cloud sea surrounding Upper Yard, bypassing the danger of the road they had been following prior.

"So…what's with the girl?" Nami asked and pointed at Asia.

"Her name is Asia she was riding a Waver towards Upper Yard, she lost control and we picked her up. She's from the Shandorin tribe," Conis claimed.

Nami looked at the girl in surprise, she walked over to her.

"So, you're from the same tribe as the Guerrillas attacking the island, a Shandorian?" Nami inquired.

"That's right, I'm a brave warrior of Shandora. Fear me Blue Sea Dweller," Aisa demanded.

Nami did not look impressed.

"So you want to fight, I'll use my Impact Dial on you," Nami warned and raised the gantlet that Gan Fall had left her.

"Nami where are the others?" Conis asked.

"In the cabin there hurt pretty badly," Nami answered.

Conis went into the cabin and she gasped in shock at how injured Usop and Sanji were, she came back out and asked Nami where the medical supplies were and Nami left Asia to go get them. Asia looked around the ship and Connor came over to her.

"Your names Asia right…I'm Connor," Connor introduced trying to be friendly.

Asia however stared at Connor in both shock and confusion, Connor felt a little awkward about it.

"What?" he asked.

"You…you're…" Asia stared but she suddenly collapsed on the deck and started screaming.

"Aisa? What's wrong?" Nami rushed over, followed by Payaga and Conis.

"I could hear them, their voices, they vanished!" The girl replied, sobbing openly as she recalled the images and the sounds that had briefly flashed through her mind.

"Hear what?" Connor asked. He listened but could not hear anything but the sounds of battle.

"Voices…Wait….Can you use that Mantra thing that the priests use?" Nami asked urgently

"Yes, ever since I was born, I just keep on hearing people's voices vanish! I even see how it happened!" Asia claimed, everyone could tell by her voice that she was scared.

"That sounds awful!" Conis exclaimed, throwing her hands to clasp over her mouth.

"Mantara…what's Mantra?" Connor asked.

"It's the power to hear and read peoples aruras…by using Mantara you can appently predict people's moves before they're made," Nami claimed.

Connor stared at her in shock and then looked back at Asia, this Mantra sounded a lot like his own ability with slight differences.

Nami bent down to Asia and put her hand gently on the girls shoulder.

"Aisa, I'm sorry to have to ask you this, but…" Nami said, she looked uncomfortable for a second as she considered her question. "But, have any of our Nakama, the people from the blue sea…have any of them…vanished?"

"No." the girl replied, still sounding upset "Apart from those two who vanished a not long ago,"

"The two who vanished…can hear anyone in the cabin?" Nami asked.

Asia shook her head.

"Hold on…Sanji and Usopp are still alive. How can they vanish?" Connor asked.

Nami looked over at Connor.

"Perhaps a voice vanishing doesn't necessarily mean they're dead?" Nami suggested.

"No, but it usually does, especially on this island." Aisa said bitterly. "Most of the people getting hurt are the Divine enforcer squads and…and my people."

Nami breathed a sigh of relief, before feeling slightly guilty for it. She had just heard Aisa express fear at how most of her people were dying and her first reaction was to be relieved regarding the fate of her friends.

"Can you tell us how the battles are going?" Connor asked.

"Three of the priests are now down." Aisa claimed "Satori vanished yesterday, Shuna was beaten by Wiper about 20 minutes ago and Gedatsu was just defeated by that Tanuki"

"Chopper he's a Reindeer not a Tanuki," Nami confirmed. "."

Asia slowly got up and looked over towards the forest, like she was watching something from afar.

"There's a lot of smaller fights going on, I can hear them all," Aisa said sadly.

"When you say, 'hear' do you literally hear them?" Nami pondered.

"No, it's more like I can just tell roughly where everyone is. It's like I have a compass in the back of my head that points to people…only it points to a lot of people. Usually angary ones,"

"That sounds like a similar ability to Connors," Nami said.

Aisa looked at Connor in surprise. Before anyone could respond Pagaya brought up the now fixed Waver that he had offered to repaired earlier. Nami was delighted of course and Pagaya explained how this waver would be faster than the one that Nami had ridden earlier due to it having an incredibly powerful Wind Dial in its engine.

While a delighted Nami thanked Pagaya, Aisa went to the edge of the ship and stared out into the forest; Connor walked up to her.

"Are you worried about your friends?" Connor asked.

Asia nodded.

"At least you can tell whether or not there alive," Connor said "I have a similar ability to yours…but I can't hear voices,"

"How is it different?" Aisa asked.

"I don't hear people, I see there aruras instead," Connor claimed "But I have to be in view of them for it to work,"

Aisa just stared, considering the older girl's words before suddenly throwing both hands to her head.

"Are you okay?" Connor panicked.

"The… the girl, who sprouts limbs she…" Was all Aisa could manage to mumble out before she paused needing to take a breath.

Connors heart immediately sank, as he began to panic from hearing those words.

'Robin…did her voice vanish?!' he thought

"She… She…." Aisa said, gasping slightly.

"She defeated Yama!" Aisa declared in surprise.

"Who's Yama?" Connor asked.

Aisa explained that he was Enel's chief enforcer, and one step below the priests, but more lethal than two of them, outclassing Satori due to physicality and the fact that he possessed a greater killer instinct, and surpassing Gedatsu by intelligence.

"Robin beat someone stronger than a priest?" Connor asked, genuinely surprised.

"Not definitely stronger. But Yama's hurt or killed more of my people than Satori and Gedatsu put together. I'm glad that he's gone now…that bastard deserved it," Aisa smiled.

"It's must be hard…hearing everyone all the time," Connor said.

"Yeah…but…" Aisa started.

"But?" Connor asked.

"But…" the girl continued.

"I can't hear you…you don't have a voice," Asia said and looked directly at Connor "I could hear everyone on this ship, expect you. In fact…I didn't know you were on the island until I got here,"

"I…I don't have a voice?" Connor gasped.

Aisa shook her head.

This made sense, if the priests possessed and relied on Mantra then Shuna's look of surprise and complete shock that Connor was on the ship now he knew. Shuna must have used Mantra to determine who was on board and if he didn't have a voice to hear or read then the priest could not have known that Connor was even there.

'Does this mean I can't be found by Mantra?' Connor wondered.

Nami brought her new waver over to show the kids and noticed Connors contemplative look along with how Aisa was string at him. She didn't know what the two were talking about.

"Hey Aisa…how old are you?" Nami asked.

"I'm eight," she answered.

Nami nodded and bent down to Connors ear.

"She's too young for you," Nami whispered into Connors ear.

Connor quickly turned and looked at Nami in shock and horror; Nami laughed at the boys' reaction. The Merry continued to sail along the cloud river that Payga had created until it was out of the forest and on the Cloud Sea just off shore of Upper Yard.

Now that they were off the dangerous Island and unknowingly safe from Enel's game Nami was eager to try out her new Waver, she dropped into the seas and jumped on it before testing it by going up and down the shore line.

Connor and Aisa watched until Aisa froze up and announced that another voice had just disappeared. She claimed it was the Reindeer sending Connor into a state of shock. Aisa decided that she needed to find her friend and jumped into the sea swimming towards the island.

Connor jumped in after her, he caught up and tried to stop her from going back onto the Island. Nami spied the two children, she maneuverered her Waver over to them and tried to calm Aisa down but the girl was not hearing it.

The noise unfortunately attracted a gigantic green snake, the length of its body being beyond perception as it was hidden within the trees, everyone started at it astonished that something so big could exist.

"Asia…Connor….get on the Waver," Nami whispered so as to not attract the snakes attrition.

Aisa and Connor quietly climbed on the Waver but the snakes eye spotted them, they tree humans in the after froze trying not to move.

Without warning, the snake started lashing its body wildly, seemingly in pain.

"Hang on, we're getting out of here!" Nami yelled.

Connor and Aisa grabbed onto Nami as she hit the throttle, barely evading the lashing tail of the snake. In her efforts to avoid being smashed by the creature's erratic movements, Nami was forced to steer the waver back into the forest, only for the snake to follow. The giant snake pursued them hissing loudly causing Nami to go faster in desperation and unaware that they had just re-entered Enel's game.


	46. Skypia Pt 10

_**A.n I own Nothing**_

 _ **Please Review**_

* * *

Robin stared coldly at the smoking unmoving body of Yama the Chief Enforcer of Enel's soldiers; he had come out of the forest and attacked her simply because she was there.

At first she had been desperate to protect the ruins she had found but that quickly became impossible as Yama had no respect for them and began to destroy them. So Robin had switched from defensive tactics to offensive ones.

It had not taken the Arciolgest long to figure out that Yama had a good dozen impact Dials hidden in his sash. Robin used her powers to flip them round so Yama would blow himself up and the chief enforcer fell right into her trap.

Robin let out and exhausted sigh, she had not had to fight like that in a long time; she turned to the destroyed ruins.

"So much history…gone in the span of a few minutes," Robin said mournfully.

She sat down on a piece of rubble and opened her journal, reading over the translations and notes that she had been able to write down before Yama's attack. As she read she got the feeling that these were not the ruins of the city of gold like she had forest thought.

"Odd…this writing talks of the city of gold like it's not here," Robin said "But this island is defiantly the missing part of Jaya and I am defiantly in the skulls right eye,"

Robin stood up and looked around there was not much of a the ruins left from Yama's attack, thinking that she used her powers to create arms with eyes on them so she could get a better look at the surrounding area and hopefully find something that would give her a clue as to where the lost city was.

Her search bore fruit very quickly as she discovered that there was one building intact; Robin released her powers and headed towards the building while reading her note book. After a brief walk the ground went from soil and dirt to cloud.

Robin ignored it and continued along her way until she came across the building she had seen with her Devil Fruit power. It looked like a small temple, though it was tilted slightly and robin assumed that it was because the foundation of it was buried in a lair of clouds. There was a huge beanstalk a short distance away that led up further into the sky.

She looked around and then at her journal.

"This should be the centre of the city…but this temple doesn't look like anything Nolan described," Robin commented "it should be bigger and more pyramid shape,"

"Perhaps the force of being thrown into the sky knocked the building around or destroyed them," Robin theorised.

Robin spied an opening at the top and climbed up the steps leasing to it, she walked into the ruin and followed the corridor through to the other side. There were more ruins and structures coming out of the clouds. Robin walked through them studding and observing however something did not seem quite right.

She walked past the base of a giant beanstalk and found a wall with writing on it, she quickly got to work translating it and making notes. However the writing seemed to stop half way through, like it was incomplete.

"Why would they stop halfway through?" Robin wondered.

She shut her note book and looked back across the ruins; she did not think that the ancient Shandorins would just stop halfway through writing something. She went back to the temple that she came out if and sat on the steps to think.

"It feels like I have only scratched the surface," Robin sighed and looked at the clouds beneath her feet.

She stared at the clouds and then her eyes widened.

"What if…what if there's more…beneath the surface?" Robin realised.

Robin got up and ran back up into the temple she found an area that was mostly cloud covering the floor and pulled out a knife and began to cut way the clouds. It took a while but thanks to their powers she was able to get through the cloud layer and once she did Robin landed in a lower part of the temple.

She spied an opening and headed through it to be greeted by the sight of a massive ancient city covered in moss and vines. She looked up to see a layer of clouds above her and found that she could not see the top of the temple.

"So I was right, the ruins above me were the tops of buildings, the real city was underneath the clouds," Robin said happily.

She stood there admiring the lost city from above and after a few minutes of soaking in the atmosphere and enjoying the accomplishment of find a 400yr old lost city Robin

"Now…where's that belfry?" Robin asked herself as she made her way down into the city.

* * *

 _Upper Ruins and base of Gaint Jack_

Chopper had decided to quickly search out the ruins that lay on this layer of cloud before climbing any higher, his injuries were far from dangerous now, but they sure as hell made strenuous activity far more painful and they had significantly slowed his ascent up Giant Jack.

Upon reaching the top Chopper had found more ruins, he decided to take a look around and had unintentionally bumped into the last of the Priests Ohm. The priest had immediately told Chopper that he would save him from his sins by killing him.

Chopper of curse freaked out at this and ran but Ohm was still able to use his sword to cut the reindeer down in one swing.

Ohms victory did not last long as a large object fell from the sky, crashing into the ground a metre away from him, immediately kicking up dust and debris, preventing it from being quickly identified.

The first sign of this not being an inanimate falling object was a loud series of coughs ringing from the dust cloud.

"Screw that winged bastard," a gruff and familiar voice yelled.

The dust cleared to reveal Zoro, he quickly patted himself down to clear his cloths of dust and dirt. Only after he was done did he notice where he was.

"Oh are these the ruins I was supposed to find?" Zoro asked, he was actually astonished that he found them.

"You just fell from the sky," Ohm stated.

Zoro turned and looked at the priest only now just noticing him.

"Huh….oh yeah. Damn South bird carried me her and then dropped me," Zoro explained in annoyed yet causal tone "He then flew off with my lunch,"

"A bird stole your lunch?" Ohm asked in confusion.

"Yeah…damn thing, I was looking forward to eating it too," Zoro complained.

"So you are just another lost soul to be purged of his sinful desires…" Ohm claimed, "I shall save you from them,"

"Wait…what?" Zoro asked.

Ohm drew his sword however before attacking the pirate in front of him he turned away facing the Beanstalk.

"But you can wait…at least for a moment." Ohm claimed.

Bewildered and confused, Zoro watched as the man swing his sword seemingly at nothing. The range of his attack was deceptive however, as light danced from the tip of the swinging blade, seemingly cutting air until it reached its target, the base of the beanstalk, where another human figure was quickly emerging. A gliding figure that had the reaction time to avoid this unexplainable attack.

"Wiper… I don't recall anyone giving you permission to be up here," Ohm claimed, before jumping onto his giant dog and headed over to the shandorin warrior. Zoro curious also followed, he was intrigued by how Ohms sword and skills.

"Ohm…I don't need your permission to go anywhere on this Island," Wiper claimed.

"It appears that your fear has led to madness, not the first time I've seen it. Many of your people have fallen to that fate, have they not?" Ohm asked calmly.

"Oh spare me your crap; I'm going to God's Shrine!" Wiper announced bluntly.

"That would be of no use to anyone." Another voice interrupted from behind the assembled trio.

All three fighters turned to face the newest arrival.

"Gan Fall," Ohm and Wiper both hissed, Zoro could feel the amount of hatred on their voices. As all eyes rested on the Sky-Knight, now redressed in his full armoured splendour, with Pierre hovering beside the building which he stood on.

"Ah, it's you! One of the Blue Sea Dwellers," Gan Fall said as he recognized his ally pretty quickly.

"Hey old man!" Wiper yelled. "What did you mean just now? About my mission being 'of no use'?"

"Mission?" Zoro asked.

"God's Shrine is completely empty, not a single soul remains there. Enel has abandoned his home," Gan Fall answered.

"He abandoned it?" Wiper's asked as a whisper, confusion clearly written all over his face.

"It is a shame that all of you have come bearing sins," Ohm started "however fret not for I shall set you free of them,"

Ohm drew his sword and Zoro noticed that both Gan Fall and Wiper had readied there weapons. Zoro did the same and drew his three swords.

"Now face me and my Ordeal of Iron," Ohm declared

* * *

 _In the Forest of Upper Yard_

Nami rode through the Cloud Rivers of Upper yard at top speed on her waver with two passengers. After they had managed to out run the giant rampaging Python; Nami quickly realised she had no idea witch way to go. However before she could get her bearings she and her two passengers were attacked by Gods Enforces.

Nami was forced to use the waver again as an escape route, as they fled they also past a few Sahndorans who were in there own fights with some enforces and both sides were surprised to see the waver fly past them. A few Shandorins could have sworn that they saw Aisa on the waver too.

However none them had any time to react as the Rampaging Python quickly returned to chase it's original pray and it seemed even madder than before.

As they fled Aisa yelled at the python for destroying her Islands natural forest and beauty.

* * *

 _Upper Ruins and Base of Giant Jack_

Zoro dodged another vicious swing from Ohm, grimacing as he did so, the reach and flexibility of Ohm's form-changing weapon being a constant issue for him. Not to metion Ohm had trapped them in a barbed wire cage to ensure that they could not escape.

Seeing an opening in the priests defences, the swordsman charged, two swords at his side, preparing to swing them upwards an cleave Ohm's shoulder, this plan was promptly interrupted; by a click, a widening of eyes, and an instant roll to dodge rapidly approaching barbed wire.

Zoro cursed himself for his stupidity; he wouldn't be able to attack this man so directly as he had already triggered several of these barbed traps in the area.

The two warriors moved towards each other again, swords raised only for Ohms animal companion to lend assistance to his master and attacked Zoro as well. Zoro jumped back and hid behind some rubble to catch his breath.

"Damn it…this is tough. Just one of them is a forced to be reckoned with, where's that old man?" Zoro hissed.

He eyed the Beanstalk that rose some 150 metres ahead of them, with a battling Sky-knight and Tribal Chief standing between them and their only escape route.

"Yeah that would be right…why can't they come and distract this guy for me?" Zoro asked.

He did not get a response as Ohms sword crashed through Zoro's hiding spot forcing the swordsman to retreat further back into the surrounding ruins. Zoro ran through the ruins avoiding both Ohm and his giant fighting dog, as he passed a broken wall he saw something in the corner of his eye that made his blood run cold.

There sliced up and not moving was Chopper. Zoro froze and stared at the doctor in horror.

"C…C…Chopper?" Zoro asked. However this momentary distraction was enough time for both Ohm and his dog to not only catch up but also land a good hit.

Zoro struggled to get back up as he now has a huge cash across his shoulder blade, plus Ohms dog could really throw a punch. Ohm walked up to him and glanced at Choppers body.

"You stopped for a corpse?" Ohm asked.

"You did this to him didn't you?" Zoro acused.

"Yes I saved him as I shall save you," Ohm claimed and raised his sword again.

The two were about to charge forward again when a yell broke out ahead of them.

"Stop following me damn-it!" A feminine voice yelled from a distance, a distance which was rapidly closing, emanating from the cloud opening created by Giant Jack.

Nami riding the Waver burst out of the clouds and headed straight towards Zoro. She was pursued by three enforcers.

"Nami?!" Zoro shouted in surprise.

In a flash, Nami's pursuers were taken out, by Zoro, Gan Fall and Wiper. Nami hit the brakes as the Waver she drifted to a stop.

"What the hell are you doing here!?" Zoro suddenly yelled at her and noticed that both Connor and another girl were with her.

"WHY THE HELL DID YOU BRING THE KID?!" Zoro yelled.

"I didn't come here by choice you idiot! We were chased!" Nami bit back with twice the fury.

The intended answer was promptly drowned out however, by a yell from Wiper, conveniently the yell also answered the question, albeit not very well.

"Aisa! Get away from that woman!" the tribesman yelled as he raised his cannon,

Despite his words Wiper didn't give the girl a second to heed his advice. He pulled the trigger sending out another pillar of dense, focused blue flames which seemed to engulf the entire pathway which his intended targets were located on.

Gan Fall yelled out as he moved to drag the pair out of the path of the attack, but his efforts weren't necessary.

Wiper's eyes darted around, attempting to find a way to explain where his targets went; he looked up to see that Gan Fall had saved them. The Straw-Hat navigator breathed a heavy sigh of relief as she was hanging onto the waver that was being held up by Gan Fall.

"Thanks for the save Weird Knight," Nami said gratefully.

"Wiper you bully!" Aisa cried out.

"I'll put these three somewhere safe! You two must hang on for a while!" the knight declared.

However at that very moment the giant python burst through the lower cloud layer near the Beanstalk and stopped and saw its pray hanging in the air. Gan Fall turned just in time to see the jaws of the snake closing in upon him. Pierre was too petrified to steer away and there was no way to dodge.

And just like that, the snake snapped its mouth shut swallowing them whole.

"AISA!" Wiper cried in a mixture of horror, shock and grief.

Zoro had a similar emotions flashing across his face as well but not for the Shandorian girl, his was for Connor and Nami.

Ohm looked up at the snake with a contemplative look; the snake seemed to be looking around the area confused. Ohm suspected that it had not yet realised that it had eaten its prey.

"That could be troubling," Ohm stated.

Zoro took the chance and rushed forward; he passed Ohm and headed for the snake.

"GIVE NAMI AND CONNOR BACK!" Zoro yelled out in rage as he began to attack the snake.

"HEY AISA'S IN THERE TOO!" Wiper cried out and followed Zoro to attack the snake.

Ohm stood back and watched.

"Do they wish to be eaten too?" Ohm asked himself.

"WIPER!" a female voice called out.

Ohm turned and saw a female Shandorin warrior run towards the barbed wire cage. Since the cage was already up there was no way for her to get in so Ohm just watched her curiously. Wiper herd someone call his name and looked in the direction it had come from.

"Laki?!" Wiper asked in surprise.

He abandoned his fight with the snake and headed over to Laki landing in front of her.

"Laki what are you doing here?" Wiper demanded.

"I came to tell you, Kimikari fought Enel…he's not in the shrine," Laki said.

"What? The Gan Fall was telling the truth?" Wiper asked. He had not believed the former god when he had said that earlier.

"Wiper we have to retreat…You can't win against Enel," Laki claimed.

"We have no choice, if we can beat him then…" Wiper started.

"WIPER YOU CAN'T WIN!" Laki screamed.

Wiper stared at his friend but his face suddenly turned to horror. Laki looked confused.

"Now now…I hate those who spoil the ending," a sinister voice said.

Laki turned around and behind her was Enel, she suddenly became very afraid. Laki immediately pulled out her weapon and shot Enel in the hart but the god just stood there with a board look on his face.

"Well that wasn't very nice," Enel said before he electrocuted Laki right in front of Wiper.

"NOOOO!" Wiper screamed as tears started to fall from his face.

"Hmm…oh you're here to. Are you having fun with Ohm?" Enel asked.

"Enel…YOU BASTERD! SHE WAS A WOMAN!" Wiper screamed in rage.

"And?" Enel asked coldly.

"She wasn't supposed to be here!" Wiper yelled.

"But she was and it is her own fault she's now dead," Enel said coldly.

"COME IN HERE AND SAY THAT TO ME! I'LL TAKE YOU ON RIGHT NOW!" Wiper declared.

"No, you're in Ohms ordeal so your life is his to take. I won't interfere with my priests," Enel claimed, he then looked off into space for a moment.

"Besides I have another woman to kill. Have fun Wiper, I don't expect us to meet again," Enel said and vanished from sight.

Wiper fell to his knees in despair as he cried for his fallen comrades.

"First Aisa and now Laki…." Wiper cried.

Ohm walked over to him.

"You now see what your sins have brought; you now understand that the only path forward is salvation. Had you chosen it long ago then those girls would still be alive," Ohm stated.

Wiper didn't respond he just sat there in despair.

"Very well I shall save you now," Ohm said.

He raised his sword and brought it down on wipers neck.


	47. Skypia Pt 11

**_A.n I own Nothing_**

 ** _For those of you who have queations about the stroy and send PM's with a guest login I can not respond to them as there reply option dose not work on guest users. Please if you do have a question create an account so I can awnser it, but keep in mind if the awnser involes spoilers for future chapters/arcs I will not awnser._**

 ** _Please Review_**

* * *

 _Inside the Snakes belly_

Nami, Aisa, Gan Fall and Connor fell down into the darkness, having been eaten by a giant snake there was only one place for them to go. As they fell Gan Fall and Pierre managed to catch them and slow there decent into the stomach and once they hit the ground they weren't hurt to badly.

However instead of landing in a pool of stomach acid they landed on top of some stone ruins, it looked like the snake had eaten them at some pint but had been unable to dissolve them.

"Where are we?" Nami asked as she got up.

"I don't know…I thought the snake ate us," Gan Fall climed as he looked around.

"I haven't seen ruins like his before," Asia claimed.

Connor walked over to the wall and put his hand on it, he quickly removed it as he felt a burning sensation. He winced in pain and looked at his hand as the top laye of skin had been dissolved.

"Connor be careful," Nami warned.

Connor looked over at her and nodded.

"I don't get it, if we were eaten shouldn't we be dead?" Connor asked.

"No we'll only die if we get digested first," Nami claimed "if we can get out before that happens then we'll be fine,"

Gab Fall walked over to the wall that made up the snakes stomach.

"Perhaps I can pierce the stomach and force our way out," Gan Fall suggested and poked the inside of the snake with his lace gently.

"DON'T DO THAT!" Nami screamed.

"Why not?" Connor asked.

"Because that snake was already in a lot of pain, if it rampages while were inside it theses buildings will fly everywhere and crush us," Nami claimed.

"I…I was joking," Gan fall claimed, however the look on his face told everyone he had not thought that particular course of Action through.

"Honestly what kind of idiotic more in would try to break out of a best like this from the inside?" Nami asked with a sigh.

Just as she said that a tapping sound echoed throughout the snakes belly, everyone froze and listened to it trying to determine where it was coming from. A shadowy figure emerged and from the darkness and everyone got on guard to combat this unknown threat.

Nami pulled Aisa closer to her for protection and Connor and Gan fall drew there weapons. However the figure turned out to be Luffy, his clothes were in the process of being dissolved and looked more like rags than actual clothes.

"L…Luffy?" Nami asked in surprise.

"Nami thank goodness, I can't get out of this cave," Luffy said, happy to see familiar faces.

"Cave…you think this is a cave?" Nami asked.

"Well yeah, I tried to punch my way out but that just made the cave go crazy. I've been flying around in here for a while now and no matter how hard I punch the cave won't give in," Luffy said.

"Wait…you were punching the walls?" Gan fall asked.

"Huh…oh hi Weird Knight Guy," Luffy said now noticing the sky knight.

"So that means…YOU WERE THE REASON IT WAS RAMPAGING!" Nami screamed.

She immediately jumped on Luffy and started to beat him up Gan Fall and Aisa watched in shock as Luffy was beaten by Nami. Connor merely shook his head and put his sword away.

"Umm…excuse me," Gan Fall said as he moved closer to Connor "is this normal?"

"Yeah, it is. You just need to let Nami get it out of her system," Connor said.

"Are all Blue Sea women this scary?" Asia asked.

"No just Nami," Connor claimed.

"I see…so who is this guy anyway?" Aisa asked.

"That's Luffy and as hard as it is to believe he's the captain of the Straw Hat Pirate Crew," Connor claimed.

Asia and Gan Falls jaws dropped at this, neither of them could believe it.

"He's the Captain?" Gan Fall asked in astonishment.

"Yep," Connor confirmed.

"How have you survived all this time?" Asia asked.

"Not a day goes by where I don't ask myself the same question," Connor answered.

Once Nami had severally beaten Luffy noticed Connor. He sprang up and ran over to the boy.

"Connor your up…are you okay?" Luffy asked.

"I'm fine…I woke up about an hour ago," Connor claimed.

"I'm sorry I didn't think this would happen…"Luffy started.

"It's okay…it was my own fault," Connor said looking away.

"But you had too…you save Chopper and the Weird Knight Guy,"

"My name is Gan Fall," Gan Fall mumbled.

Luffy and Connor however seemed to ignore him and Connor shook his head.

"I still disobeyed you so what happened next was inevitable,"

"But you shouldn't have had to suffer for saving them," Luffy said.

"I know but…that's just how it is," Connor said sadly.

Luffy looked at Connor sadly. He felt very guilty for not watching his words more carefully and because he hadn't Connors brand had punished him severally for it.

"Well from now on you can ignore anything I or the others say. If anyone of the crew is in trouble then you do whatever it takes to help them," Luffy said "even if it means going against previous orders,"

Connor looked back up at Luffy in surprise, Luffy had practically given him permission to disobey any orders if any and all situations demanded it.

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind form now on," Connor said happily.

"Great so…do you know what's up with this mystery cave or why Nami's so angry with me?" Luffy asked.

Nami hit him again for that comment.

Suddenly the whole woke Snake started to rumble and then the occupants were thrown around in it's belly, the budings and ruble were also thrown around.

"WHAT THR HELL IS GOING ON OUTSIDE!" Nami yelled.

* * *

 _Lost City of Shandora_

Robin walked around the ruins of the lost city of gold; she could tell that this was indeed the city that Noland had described in his journal; however there was no sign of any gold. There she found a large mural, written in the same language as the Ponyglyphs.

After translating it she realised that there was a Ponyglyph located at the base of the belfry on the fabled golden bell that hung in the centre of the city. Robin immediately headed for the city's centre however upon arriving there all she found was a giant beanstalk that led further up to the cloud layer above the city.

Robin continued to walk around the city looking for the golden belfry as she believed that the Shandorans of old would have protected it and it was the main reason they fought so hard against the Skypians in the first place.

Robin eventually came across what appeared to be a rail-line, she bent down to examine it but unlike the rest of the ruins it was fairly new.

"This shouldn't be here," Robin stated as she ran her hand across the tracks "it's not new…but it must have been here a good six maybe seven years,"

"It must have been used to move something around here." Robin theorized.

"It was," a hollow voice came from behind.

Robin stood up and turned to the intruder, she saw Enel sitting there munching on an Apple.

"I thought I felt someone down here," Enel claimed.

"Who are you?" Robin asked.

"God," Enel answered with a smile.

"I have to say I am impressed though, it took me month to find this place yet you did it in a matter of hours," Enel said "How did you do that by the way?"

"I merely followed the directions," Robin responded.

"Directions? Where were they?" Enel asked.

"On the Sacrificial alter and on several of the remaining structures in the forest," Robin claimed.

"Oh…Oh I get it, you can read there writing. Yeah I can see how being able to read lanuge from centuries ago would be beneficial…wish I had you around when I was looking for this place," Enel commented.

"You've been here before then…do you know what these tracks were used to transport?" Robin asked.

"Huh…oh that, it was to get the gold out," Enel claimed.

"Gold?" Robin asked.

"Yep, that's what you blue sea dwellers came here for right?" Enel asked "Well sorry to disappoint you but your too late, the gold was taken six years ago by yours truly. There's nothing left," Enel claimed.

"I see…that is a pity," Robin said "I was hoping to get a look at the golden bell too,"

"Bell?" Enel asked interested.

Robin observed Enel's reaction and it was pretty clear that he did not know that the bell existed.

"You didn't take it with you?" Robin asked.

"There was no bell here when I came," Enel claimed.

"I see, then it most likely never made it into the sky," Robin claimed "if it did I'm sure you would have found it,"

"A bell huh…maybe…" Enel trailed off.

"Oh well, I shall have to continue the search on the blue sea," Robin said disappointingly.

"Now hold on a minute how big would this bell be?" Enel asked.

"From what I have read it is supposed to be gigantic," Robin claimed.

"Hmm…you know what I think the bell did make it up here," Enel claimed "it's said that 400yrs ago when Upper Yard first appeared a heavenly sound echoed thought the island. The elders later named this the Song of the Island,"

"So the source of the song was a golden bell…I think I'll take it with me," Enel smiled.

"Do you have any clues on its whereabouts? There's nothing written about it here," Robin asked.

"Nope, but I have a fair idea where it might be though. There's still time before the game ends, I'll search the island until then,"

"I'm just here to admire this magnificent architecture! Its longevity is truly astonishing, is it not? Even after being shot into the sky the City of Shandora still possesses this much of its majestic quality."

Suddenly Enel stared of into space.

"Oh a maggot has escaped," he said flatly, he turned back to Robin. "Would you excuse me for a few seconds? Enel asked.

He did not wait for a response before standing up and shooting lighting into the sky, it shot up though the layer of clouds above the city and headed to find its target. A few seconds later he smiled wickedly.

"Got him," Enel smiled.

 _Going Merry, a few minutes earlier_

The Going Merry sat anchored off the western shore of Upper Yard, after Nami had run off into the Island on her new Waver with Aisa and Connor Coinis and her father had navigated the ship to the edge of the Island.

Once there Pagaya set his boats horn to sound constantly to let the straw hats know where they were. Meanwhile Conis had started to take care of Sanji and Usopp who were still out cold form being electrocuted by Enel; the fact that they were still alive was a miracle in itself.

Pagaya came in to check on them.

"How are they?" He asked.

"There alive…I don't know how but they are," Conis answered as she put a damp cloth on Sanji's head.

"Any sign of Nami and the others?" Conis asked.

"Not yet," Pagaya responded.

Conins looked down in worry, she knew the dangers of Upper Yard and the thought that Nami and two children were on it alone scared her.

"Don't worry Conis I'm sure Nami will look after Aisa and that other boy. After all how much trouble could they get into?" Pagaya asked.

"Your right…I shouldn't worry," Conis said with a smile.

Suddenly both Conis and Pagaya herd Suu's cry, they both ran out to the deck to see what the fox wanted. On the shore near the ship was a man I a toga, he was injured and looked exhausted; Pagaya and Coins left the Merry to help the man.

"Are you alright?" Pagaya asked.

"G…Get away," the man said.

"It's alright we won't hurt you," Coins tried.

"No…you don't understand…you have to get away," the man continued.

"From what?" Conis asked.

"Enel…he's leaving Skypiea," the man claimed.

Conis and Pagaya s face lit up at this.

"That's good though, it means we won't have to live in fear of him anymore," Pagaya said.

"No you don't understand…Enel is leaving but he…he intends to destroy the sky as he goes," the man warned.

Pagaya and Conis eye's widened in shock.

"No…he can't…" Conis gasped.

"Yes he can and he will…every man woman and child. Weather its Skypian or Shandorin will die…even Upper Yard will be destroyed,"

"What can we do?" Pagaya asked.

"Nothing…nothing can be done. We have to evacuate to the Blue Sea," the man said.

"But surly Enel won't destroy his home," Coins said "if he does he won't be God anymore,"

"He doesn't care, he's going to destroy everything…you have to leave now!" the man cried.

Suddenly a bright blue light filled the sky, Conis, Pagaya and the man looked up to see a huge pillar of lighting heading in there direction.

"Gods Judgment," Coins gasped.

"Oh no…" the man said.

Pagaya suddenly pushed Coins off the island and she fell onto the Merry, she watched in horror as Gods judgment engulfed her father and the man on the shore. By the time she hit the Merry's deck her father and the man were gone and the only thing left was a small fire that would burn any and all remains of the two men to ash.

Conis fell to her knees and broke down in tears at her father's death at Enel's hands.

"Why…Why father…all…all he ever wanted was to make people happy," Coins cried "Enel…how could you be so cruel,"

Suu trotted up to Conis and rubbed her head against Coins leg to comfort her; Conis picked the small fox up and gave and held it tightly.

"Oh Suu…why?" she asked.

Conis sat there grieving her father's passing however after a minute or two she stood up and wiped away her tears.

"No…No I won't just sit here and cry. I can grieve all I like once everyone is safe," Coins said determinedly.

She walked over to the railing and placed Suu on it, the small fox looked up at her in confusion.

"Suu I have to go back to Angel Island and warn everyone of Enel's plan, I need you to stay here and guard the ship along with the two Blue Sea dwellers…can you do that?" Conis asked.

Suu nodded and gave a determined squawk, Conis smiled and kissed the small creature before putting on some gloves; she jumped on the Waver boat they used to get to Upper Yard and sped away at top speed towards Angel Island.

"No more…No more will die today," Conis said to herself.

* * *

 _Lost city of Shandora,_

Enel nodded in satisfaction as he sensed his targets voice disappear along with one other. He then turned to Robin

"Sorry about that, now where were we?" Enel asked.

Robin stared at Enel in shock and complete fear, she had never seen this kind of power before however it was clear that this man was a Logia type user and his power was far more frighting than Crocodiles.

"Oh you seem to be afraid, that's good," Enel claimed "After all times nearly up,"

"Time…what time?" Robin asked.

"The games time limit of course, I predicted that there would only be five people left alive at the end of three hours. Since I am God my predictions must always come true so I had better do something about it," Enel said.

He raised his hand to the sky again and a huge current of electricity shot out of Enel's body, it flowed up the giant beanstalk behind him and into the cloud layer above.

"What did you do?" Robin asked as she watched the ruins above fall from the sky.

"I invited your Nakama to join us of course," Enel smiled evilly "that is if they survive the fall,"

 _Upper Ruins, Ordeal of Iron_

Zoro breathed heavily as he looked over the fallen body of Ohm, he had just defeated him with a new move that flew through the air. After seeing Edward perform sword techniques that could fly and hit opponents at a distance Zoro had created a move like his.

However it had been really difficult and the power it had given off was less then Zoro had hoped; he looked down at his swords in contemplation.

"That was less powerful than Edwards and not as powerful as it should have been…damn it looks like I need more training," Zoro said to himself.

Suddenly Ohms dog attacked him and Zoro jumped out of the way.

"Damn dog…sit," Zoro hissed. And Much to Zoro's surprise the dog obeyed.

"Wait…do you obey any order given to you?" Zoro asked.

The dog barked in response.

"Fine…then hit yourself in the head and take a long nap," Zoro ordered.

The dog did as it was told and collapsed on the ground from being hitting itself. Zoro chose to ignore how stupid the dog was and rushed off to join Wiper in his battle against the giant python. Despite Wipers impressive combat abilities and powerful attacks the python had not taken any damage.

"Damn it…how is it still not hurt?" Wiper cursed.

He then saw Zoro running towards the Python, the swordsman jumped and swiped his swords. The surprising buildings were cut in three but the snake remained unharmed.

"Damn it's scales are so thick," Zoro cursed.

"Hey stay out of this!" Wiper yelled.

Zoro looked at the Shandorin warrior.

"Shut up my friends are in there too," Zoro shot back.

"Good then they can buy Aisa more time," Wiper said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Zoro asked.

"It means that the snake can digest your friends first,"

"Huh?! That's not how it works. If anything that girl will be digested first, she's so small and all," Zoro said "Hardly even considered a mouthful.

"TAKE THAT BACK! AISA IS A PROUD WARRIOR OF SHANDORA!" Wiper screamed.

"WARRIOR…SHE'S TINY. SHE WOULDN'T EVEN FILL A SPARROW'S BELLY!" Zoro shouted back.

"OH AND THA AND THAT OTHER BOY WOULD?!"

"OF COURSE NOT…THE KID WOULD KILL THE SPARROW BEFORE IT TRIED TO EAT HIM,"

"THEN WHY DIDN'T HE KILL THE SNAKE BEFORE IT ATE HIM THEN?"

"HEY IT'S YOUR FAULT THAT THEY GOT EATEN IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

"HOW IS IT MY FAULT?"

"YOU SHOT AT THEM?"

"THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN IN THE WAY,"

The snake was very confused; these two warriors had gone from fighting him to arguing with each other. It let out a loud annoyed roar; the two fighters looked at it angrily.

"SHUT UP!" they both yelled.

"Listen you…." Zoro said but stopped as the clouds underneath him began to rumble.

"Huh…can clouds have earthquakes?" Zoro asked.

"What's an Earthquake?" Wiper asked.

Before Zoro could answer lighting shot up through the clouds and a bright light filled the area, when it faded Zoro and Wiper found themselves in free fall along with a good portion of the ruins with them.


	48. Skypia Pt 12

**_A.n I own nothing_**

 ** _Please Review_**

* * *

 _Inside the Snakes Belly_

Everyone and everything had been tossed around, since the snake had been in battle for a while the occupants who were trapped inside felt like they had gone through a washing machine with old buildings. After a while everything began to float as the snake started to fall.

"What's going on?" Luffy yelled.

"I don't know but everything is in the air," Gan Fall said.

"This is our chance…Luffy grab onto the waver," Nami said.

"Okay," Luffy said.

He stretched out his arms and pulled both Aisa and Connor towards him.

"Hang on real tight okay," Luffy said.

Asia and Connor grabbed hold of Luffy and he grabbed onto the back of the Waver. Gan Fall was on Pierre and was already flying towards the Exit.

"Okay Nami ready," Luffy said.

"Uhh Luffy you holding the…" Connor started.

He didn't get to finish because Nami hit the gas and the Waver took off. Unfortunately because Luffy, Connor and Aisa were holding the engine they got a face filled with air and were blown back in the opposite direction.

Gan Falls eyes almost jumped out of his head when he saw this.

"Pierre stop we must go back for them," Gan Fall said.

Pierre ever loyal did as he was told and stopped mid-flight, unfortunately the sudden stop threw Gan Fall off the birds back and he was sent free flying forward. Pierre went back for Luffy and the two children without noticing he had thrown his rider off.

Thankfully Nami passed Gan Fall and the knight was able to grab on to the waver and the two shot out of the snakes mouth. Once they were out they both noticed a problem.

There was no ground beneath them.

"WHERE IN FREE FALL!" Nami screamed.

"What's that…down below?" Gan Fall asked, seeing the lost city of Shandora becoming very close.

* * *

 _Lost city of Shandora_

Robin looked up in shock as Enel had used his power to bring the upper layer of ruins down to them. Upon seeing them fall Robin had instantly turned and run as fast as she could to avoid the falling debris. She hid in one of the buildings away from the danger zone.

Enel glanced at here and thanks to his mantra he knew she was just trying to avoid being crushed so he didn't try and stop her, he also could tell where everything was going to land. The ruins and debris crashed into the ground creating quite a large mess and a huge dust cloud.

Once the dust cleared Robin came out of hiding and back to the where the derbies fell, she was looking for and sign that her crew mates had survived. She spotted Nami and Gan Fall who was not that badly hurt from the fall and came over to them.

"Nami…are you alright?" Robin asked.

Nami looked up at her.

"Hey Robin, I'm alright…but I won't be doing that again," Nami said.

Robin smiled.

Just then then one of the larger debris shot up and Zoro emerged holding Chopper.

"Damn buildings," Zoro cursed.

Not far away Wiper also emerged, he also seemed okay. The survivors attention was drown by a loud roar and they looked to see the giant python had also survived the fall. However instead of continuing it's rampage the python looked around and seemed to be in a state of both shock and happiness.

Wiper was also having a smiler reaction as he looked around.

"W…Where are we?" He asked.

"This is the lost City of Shandora," Robin answered as she approached.

Zoro and Wiper looked at her in surprise.

"What?" Wiper gasped.

"So this is the city of gold Noland found?" Zoro asked as he looked around.

Wiper starred at the swords man.

"They know Noland?" Wiper gasped.

"Yes but the gold is long gone," Robin said.

"So we're still broke then," Zoro said.

"Unfortunately," Robin said.

"Oh well, not much we can do about it," Zoro sighed.

"Hey Blue Sea Dwellers," Wiper said as he came over.

Zoro and Robin looked at him in confusion.

"You said Noland…did you mean Montblanc Noland?" Wiper asked.

"Yes…you have herd of him?" Robin responded. She was quite surprised that Noland's story would be known up in the sky.

"He was my ancestor's best friend," Wiper claimed.

"Ancestor?" Zoro asked.

"Yes there is a story in my tribe about a great warrior named Calgara and his best Friend Montblac Noland who came from across the Blue sea… Calgara was my ancestor,"

"Oh I get it," Robin said.

"I don't," Zoro said.

"We found evidence that the city of gold was inhabited; remember all the gold ingots and bird statues on Jaya. They had to have been made by someone when the top part of Jaya was shot up into the sky the inhabitants went with it. The Shandoras living in the sky must be decedents from the Shandoras that came up here with the Island,"

"Since it after Noland had discovered the city and before his death then it is highly likely that his visit must have been passed down as a legend or a folk tale for the last four hundred years," Robin finished.

"Wait…death? Noland died?" Wiper asked.

"Yeah not long after he got back from meeting your tribe, he was executed for lying about this place," Zoro said.

"What?" Wiper gasped.

As a child and descendent of Clagaler himself, he had always loved the story of his ancestor and Noland although no one ever knew what happened to Noland after he left. Wiper had always believed he had done something heroic or died in battle like a true warrior. After all Wiper knew Noland was dead, no man could survive living for four hundred years.

However these blue sea dwellers were telling him the opposite, after meeting his ancestor he was killed because no one believed him…that wasn't heroic at all.

"So…if Noland died…how do you know him?" Wiper asked.

"We met his descendant, Montblanc Cricket," Robin claimed "He helped us come here,"

"Noland's decadent…is still alive?" Wiper asked.

"Yes and he's spent his life looking for this lost city," Robin claimed.

Wiper started at them in amazement, he could not believe that these people knew his ancestors best friends descendant.

'Strangers from a distant land across the sea, a proud tribe of warriors and a battle seemingly impossible to win. It's' like the old story is repeating itself,' Wiper thought 'with a few minor differences,'

Wiper and the others were brought out of their conversation as the snake started to roar and cry in pure happiness. Enel looked over wondering what the snake was so happy about.

"Stupid beast, stop making such a racket," Enel commanded.

The Python however ignored him and continued to cry.

"Very well I shall end it for you," Enel said.

Enel raised his hand to the sky and summoned a three huge bolts of lighting, they struck the snake all at once. One second the snake was alive and healthy the nest it was frozen in place charred black and smoking but above all it was not moving.

"NO!" Zoro and Wiper yelled.

"AISA WAS IN THERE" wiper cried.

"Kid…Nami…" Zoro said in shock as the charred grilled remains of the snake fell to the ground.

Nami walked over to Zoro.

"Zoro there you…oh my gosh what happened to Chopper?!" Nami asked when she noticed the injured doctor.

Zoro stared at her in surprise.

"Y…You're alive?" Zoro asked.

"Yeah why wouldn't I be?" Nami asked.

"I saw you got eaten by the snake," Zoro said.

"We got out when it was free falling," Gan fall said as he approached.

"Then…Is the kid with you?" Zoro asked.

"No, he Aisa and Luffy got left behind," Nami said sadly.

"Luffy…Luffy's here too? Where is he?" Zoro asked.

"He was in there," Nami said and pointed to the snake.

"Damn…I guess that means he's been taken out too," Zoro hissed.

He then looked at Nami.

"Oi this basted hasn't noticed you yet, take Chopper and hide," Zoro said handing Chopper over to Nami.

Nami didn't need to be told twice, she grabbed Chopper and ran behind one of the broken buildings, she hid just in time as Enel turned to face them.

"Now then…time is almost up," Enel said as he looked over the four people in front of him.

"Enel, where are my soldiers!?" Gan Fall demanded viciously.

"Ah, you are concerned for the safety of your old guard," Enel replied in a condescending tone. "it was a host of 650 soldiers was it not?"

"I don't care for the statistics Enel! Tell me where they are!" Gan Fall was not so easily wound up by Enel's approach.

"Well…there dead obviously, I killed them this morning," Enel started casually "They finished the task I set them so I had no need of them anymore,"

"WHAT? THEY HAD FAMILYS! WIVES CHILDERN…HOW COULD YOU JUST KILL THEM!" Gan Fall yelled in rage.

"You see, ever since I arrived here I have been cultivating the means for my departure. This island in the sky… it's an unnatural occurrence, it shouldn't exist, " Enel explained "My intention is to leave this place behind, and when this island is reduced to nothing, I will do so."

"You plan to destroy Skypiea entirely?!" Gan Fall roared.

"Yes! I will depart this land leaving behind only a storm as I journey to Fairy Verth!" Enel declared.

"Fairy Vearth?" Robin asked.

"A place befitting only me, a place that makes this tiny island look like a speck of dust…Fairy Verth is a place where I will rule for eternity," Enel claimed "I wish to take five companions with me,"

"You will be spared from sharing the same fate as this island. However given that there are six of you left standing, someone will have to die first I will let you decide amongst yourselves if you wish,"

There was a brief, horrible moment of silence where everyone conscious contemplated the offer. However they only needed a spit second to decide as Gan Fall raised his lance at Enel, Zoro tightened his bandana and put his sword in his mouth, Wiper aimed his bazooka and Robin got into a fighting stance.

Then in one unanimous voice they delivered there answer

"We're not killing anyone but you!" the four fighters declared together.

Enel barely reacted to this revelation; he just looked at them with a bored expression.

Enel barely seemed to register Gan Fall's rage, knowing that even when angry, the sky knight was no threat to him.

The Former and current god both seemed to move in slow motion, as Enel casually sidestepped a quick thrust from the Sky knight, while putting his hands out in front of him, one downturned and above the other, both index fingers extended towards each other, nearly meeting.

A small orb of blue light about the size of a coin appeared at the midpoint between Enel's fingers, the orb grew and dense webs of static electricity started to leap from it as Enel moved his fingers further away from each other.

Once he had enough power a mad grin appeared on Enel's face. He and Gan Fall locked eyes for just a moment…

"30 MILLION VOLT!" Enel thrust both hands forward, aiming at the Sky Knight, who was still off balance from his lunge. The impact, Gan Fall's scream of pain, the sound of his armoured body hitting ground hard, all were compressed into a mere second; and just like that they were down to five.

"Gan Fall!" cam the collative cries form the others, while Enel merely laughed off his violent actions.

Enel seemed rather amused at the exchange.

"Now, we have all that is needed, you five are free to travel with me to the expanses of Fairy Vearth," Enel announced "Come, we set out immediately,"

"We're not going anywhere with you," Zoro declared.

"Neither is he and he won't destroy Skypiea just yet," Robin claimed.

Enel looked at her with curiosity.

"You're going to look for the Grand Belfry first aren't you, you won't destroy this island before you find it," Robin stated.

Enel simply smirked.

"You thought you could use that against me? That I would give you more time? I told you I already have an idea where the bell is just encase you were hoping to use it against me?" Enel asked, he raised his hand, electricity pooling at the tip of his extended fingertip.

A flash of blue light which was becoming all too familiar, a scream of agony, and Robin fell…and five suddenly became four.

"I hate cold and manipulative woman," Enel stated.

Zoro caught Robin before she hit the ground and gently lay her down. He then charged at Enel indicting to slice him in half and he did, however Enel merged back together and Zoro realised too late his mistake.

'Crap…he's a Logia type…' Zoro instantly realised.

Enel grabbed a sword in each hand and quickly turned the swordsman's own attacks against him, using the pirate's steel as a method to deliver an intolerable barrage of electricity into his Zoro's body. Zoro fell to the ground and four had become three.

Enel turned in time to see Wiper throw away his weapon and launch himself into he air, Enel smirked as his mantra told him what wiper was planning. He knew that the warrior would just pass harmlessly though his body as the other physical attacks had done so.

Enel's smile faded when Wiper landed on him and the moment his dial skats touched Enel the god felt very weak and was unable to maintain this element form leaving him vulnerable.

"What….Why…can't I move…why do I fell weak?" Enel asked.

"Have you ever heard of Kairouseki?" Wiper asked.

"Kairouseki?" Enel asked.

"Yeah the base of my skates are made from it," Wiper said "I've known for a long time that you got your powers form a cursed fruit,"

"How…." Enel asked.

"How do I know? A ship I attacked many years ago was carrying some along with a book about mystic fruits that give people powers. One of the men offered to teach me about it in exchange for his life…I accepted," Wiper explained "once he was finished I took the book and the Kairouseki for myself so I could one day kill you,"

Enel's eyes widened, he could not believe that there was a mineral out there that could make him so weak and helpless.

"As long as it's touching you…you can't use your powers and are vulnerable," Wiper declared.

"Kairouseki…the solid form of the sea…He has sea stone?" Nami gasped peeking out from her hiding point.

"Wiper stop….I know you have a Reject Diel if you use it you'll die too," Enel tried.

"I don't care," Wiper said and he activated the diel.

A Large compressed explosion was unleashed on Enel's chest, wiper was caught in it to and forced to release Enel. The self-proclaimed God hit the ground hard and he didn't move; Wiper stood above him barley alive looking down on his fallen adversary.

Nami came out of hiding and stared at the fallen god in amazement.

"I…I…Is he dead?" she asked.

Wiper looked over to her and then back at Enel without answering. Taking this a s conformation Nami knelt down beside Robin, checking her vitals, however the victory was short lived as Enel's body started to twitch and flash with electricity.

Nami's eyes widened as she realised what the god was doing…Enel, using his own lightning as a defibrillator, began to restart his own heart.

After a few tries Enel slowly got back up, with a smile on his face. He stood up and walked over to wiper stopping directly in front of the Shandorin warrior.

"Not a bad effort Warrior of Shandora," Enel praised.

"H…H…How?" Wiper asked.

"Your reject Deil should have killed me…in fact it nearly did, however you let go. Had your Kairouseki skates remained on me I would certainly not have been able to come back," Enel claimed.

Wiper stared at Enel in fear and fell to his knees form the injuries he had sustained.

"However I won't give you another chance to do that again," Enel said.

Enel raised both hands in front of him, his fingers spread.

"30 million Volt Hino!" with these words Enel's hands began to glow once again, before a great shimmering mass of sparking light. This time in the shape of a hawk, it flew towards Wiper hitting the injured warrior full-on before he could even raise a finger to defend himself.

With another fighter down three became tow and Enel turned to the last remaining survivor of his game…Nami.

The navigator looked at all the fighters Enel had wiped out, they were all strong and incredibly hard to defeat yet Enel had taken them all down without much effort. The only one who had come close to beating him was Wiper and he was taken out too.

'If they couldn't do it….what chance do I have?' Nami asked herself.

Nami stared at Enel in complete shock and horror as he slowly approached her, Nami wanted to run or move away but she was to frighted and before she realised it Enel was standing above her looking down with a murders gaze.

"I…I…" Nami started "I've always wanted to go to Fairy Verth….can I come?"


	49. Skypia Pt 13

_**A.N I own nothing**_

 _ **Sorry this took so long to get up, I have had the worst couple of months. First I enrolled in a few courses so study has been taking up a lot of my time, then work keeps calling me in on my days off and not giving me replacement days and then a lot of personal issues arise leaving me very emotionally drained and on the point of border line depression.**_

 _ **Again I'm sorry guys but this winter has been physically, emotionally and mentally stressful that I was in no condition to write.**_

 _ **Anyway it's all (slightly) better now so hopefully chapters will be back up weekly again.**_

 _ **Once again I apologise for keeping you waiting.**_

 _ **Please Review**_

* * *

Nami left with Enel, she took her waver with her so she could use it to escape at the right time. As she walked out of the ruins she took on last look at her crew as she felt like she was betraying them, they had all fought Enel and when it came to her turn to fight Nami had surrendered to him instead. Since everyone had been taken out and there was no chance of victory Nami did the only thing she could think of to survive, she joined her enemy.

If either Nami or Enel had waited just a few minutes longer they would have noticed the snakes eyes blink open, although the snake was still not moving. If anyone had been conscious or had looked closely they would see that the eyes were being forced open by Luffy from inside the snake with Connor and Aisa standing by his side.

Luffy tried to get out through the eye ball but all it did was make the eye fill up with tears, Luffy and the two children panicked and quickly Feld before they were drowned in tears. A moment later something rubbery and elastic extended out of the right nostril of the snakes nose.

It was Luffy hanging out like a bouncing bogger, apparently the captain had decided that the best way out was through the nose, he let go and dropped to the ground before turning back to the snake. A second later the mouth opened and Connor and Asia flew out riding Pierre.

Once they landed in front of luffy Pierre let the kids off his back.

"I don't get why you went back to the mouth, the nose was right there," Luffy said.

"Because it's disgusting," Connor claimed.

"But I got out," Luffy pointed out.

"YOUR OTHER EXIT SOLUTION WAS TO BE POOPED OUT. JUST BECAUSE YOU LIKE TO LEAVE MONSTERS BODY'S THROUGH THE ASS DOES NOT MEAN WE DO!" Aisa yelled angrily.

"Hey…where are we anyway?" Connor asked looking around at the ruined city.

"I don't know…I've never seen this place before," Aisa said as she looked around. While she wasn't lying this place did feel familiar to her.

"YYYAAAHHHOOOOOO!" Luffy screamed in delight.

Connor and Aisa then noticed Lufy had vanished; they looked in the direction of his voice and saw that he was on top of one of the buildings.

"How did he get up there so fast?" Aisa asked before she and Connor ran up the steps leading to Luffy.

"I found it, this has to be it," Luffy declared just as the two kids climbed to the top.

"Found what?" Connor asked.

"The city of gold," Luffy said happily.

"The city of…wait you mean this is the city of Shandora?" Connor asked.

"This is my home land…" Asia said in awe as she looked over the ruined and moss covered city.

"So this is where your people came from?" Luffy asked.

"I guess…though it's a lot bigger than I imaged," Aisa said.

"Well it's pretty cool," Luffy complimented.

"Your home is really amazing to have survived over 400 hundred years and still be in such good condition," Connor said with a smile.

Aisa blushed a bit at the compliant and looked away in embarrassment.

They stood there for a minute taking in there surroundings and admiring the view, however Luffys eyes widened at something, he instantly jumped down from the top of the building and ran down off. Connor and Aisa ran down the stairs and followed him with Pierre. It wasn't long until the children spotted what Luffy had seen from the top of the bulding.

There in the main area of the city was a huge crater and the charred bodies of Gan Fall, Robin and Zoro. Wiper was in the creator and Chopper was lying not far away injured.

"Zoro…ZORO!" Luffy screamed as he ran to his first mate.

Luffy tried to wake the swords man up by shaking him but it wasn't working. Pierre freaked out and went to Gan Fall side trying to wake the old knight up. Aisa found Wiper in the crater and started crying over the loss of her tribe's strongest warrior.

Connor however stood back, he stared at the damage done in shock. While inside the snake he had felt his brand pulse several times, he knew the island was dangerous but now he didn't think that the crew would be dead.

"No….I thought…." Connor whispered "they can't be dead,"

"Oi Connor, help me…" Luffy said.

"How?" Connor asked, snapping about of his thoughts.

"Can you see if there alive?" Luffy asked.

"Umm….I…I don't know…" Connor responded. He did not want to use his sight encase the fallen straw hats didn't have an aura as that would mean that they were gone forever.

"Please," Luffy said desperately, he needed to know if his crew were alive or not. Luffy did not know how to check a person pulse or anyway to see if they were alive, so that meant he had to relay on Connors sight.

Connor nodded and activated his sight, he looked at Zoro and Robin, and then at Chopper; he breathed a sigh of relief that they all still had a thin blue aura around them.

"Well?" Luffy asked wordily.

"It's small and weak…but they still have an aura," Connor claimed "they're alive,"

A smile formed on Luffy's face.

"That's a relief, what about the Weird Knight and the Bazooka guy?" Luffy asked.

Connor looked over to Gan fall and saw that he too had a blue Aura. He then went over to the creator and looked down at Wiper to see he had a white Aura.

"Yes there alive too," Connor confirmed looking back at Luffy, his eyes turning back to normal.

Connor looked around the area but didn't see Namis body or the Waver and it confused him. If she did not end up like the others then he should still feel some connection to her. But Connor could only feel one connection left and that was to Luffy.

'This doesn't make sense, Sanji and Usopp were taken out on the ship, Zoro, Robin and Chopper are all here and have clearly been defeated…Nami must be somewhere else…so why do I feel connected only to Luffy?' Connor wondered

Connor was pulled from his thoughts when he herd Robin weakly call Luffys name, both Luffy and Connor ran over to her and Luffy held her in his arms, supporting her. Asia also came over but she kept her distance from the other pirates.

"Robin, what happened?" Luffy asked worriedly.

"Enel…it was Enel…" Robin said weakly.

"That god guy?" Luffy asked.

"God?" Connor wondered.

"He…he's going to destroy Skypiea," Robin claimed.

"What?" Luffy gasped.

"We…We have to leave," Robin said.

"Nami…where's Nami?" Luffy asked.

"She went with Enel," Robin claimed.

Connors blood went cold, if what robin was saying was true than Nami had surrendered to Enel; that meant that Luffy was the only one left on the straw hats who had claim over him. If Luffy was beaten, then Connor would have to go with Enel.

"Where is he? Where's Enel?" Luffy demanded seriously.

"I don't know," Robin said regretfully.

"Damn him…I'll find him," Luffy said and gently lay robin back down.

"Luffy…I can tell you where they are," Aisa said.

Connor and Luffy looked at Aisa in surprise.

"My Mantra wasn't working inside the snake…but it is now. I can hear Enel's and Nami's voices now," Aisa claimed "I can lead you to them,"

Luffy nodded.

"Connor stay with Robin. Aisa…take me to Enel," Luffy said seriously.

Luffy ran off into the city with Aisa, the girl was not fast enough to keep up with the rubber captain on her own so Pierre let her ride on him so she could direct Luffy to Enel. Luffy ran through the empty city following Aisa directions and eventually came across a hidden area not far from the outskirts of the city.

Luffy looked at the massive cave entrance.

"Enel's in there right?" Luffy asked.

"Yes…his and Nami's voices are coming from inside," Aisa claimed.

Luffy ran in and Aisa followed on Pierre, the cave entrance was in the side of the mountain and the cave was fairly large and there was evidence that various carts and supplies had come and gone through the tunnels. Luffy followed Aisas directions and they came out in a huge room with an enormous looking boat anchored inside while Aisa and Pierre hid in the corridor.

It looked like a massive ark, it was made out of a combination of wood and gold, it had a propellers coming out of the sides and a huge golden face and some pipes coming out of the back. On the deck of the ship Nami and Enel were standing there.

"ENEL!' Luffy yelled at angrily.

Enel and Nami appeared above him on the deck of giant ship and looked down at Luffy. Nami had a look of relief and happiness on her face while Enel looked disappointed.

"Oh so those were the three ants I heard scattering around," Enel said broadly.

"Luffy….your alive?" Nami asked in surprise.

"Oi Nami what the hell are you doing up there?" Luffy asked.

"Me? You're the one who got eaten by the snake," Nami said.

"You did too," Luffy pointed out.

"That's not the point, how did you get out?" Nami asked

"Oh….we came through the nose," Luffy smiled.

"The nose?" Nami asked.

"Well it's better than your first plan I suppose," Nami sighed.

Enel looked between the two; it appeared that they had not noticed him.

"Whatever whose the guy with the big earlobes?" Luffy asked.

Enel's eye twitched.

"I am god," Enel proclaimed.

"God…your Enel?" Luffy asked in shock.

"Yes, you in awe? Are you impressed to be in such a divine presence?" Enel asked in his usual cocky manner.

"Not really…I thought you'd be taller and fatter," Luffy said.

"Fatter?" Enel asked, clearly confused and insulted by Luffy's behaviour.

"Yeah if I were god I would eat all the meat in the world," Luffy grinned.

"If you became god I would start worshipping the devil," Nami commented dryly.

Enel was quickly becoming annoyed with Luffys blunt outbursts, but what really irritated him was he did not feel any fear from the rubber pirate. Enel loved fear, he loved feeling it in all those around him, he used it subject and make the inhabitants of Skypiea submit to his will after all.

"So you, a Shandorin child and a bird have come to challenge me?" Enel said mockingly "You should have stayed in the snake,"

"How did you know we were in the snake?" Luffy asked.

"You just told him 2 minutes ago," Nami yelled.

"Oh right…my bad," Luffy laughed.

He then realised something.

"How come you didn't mention Connor?" Luffy asked.

"Who?" Enel asked.

"The boy who was with us,"

"It's no use trying to trick me, only three of you exited the snake," Enel claimed.

"No there were four of us, I left him with Robin and the others," Luffy said.

Enel reached out with his mantra, he found Robin who was still back at the ruins but that was all. He was quite surprised that she was still alive.

"There is no one with that manipulative woman," Enel claimed.

Aisa and Pierre watched from hiding behind a support beam and peaked out Enel. She was slightly confused. She had been very confused when she met the boy from the Blue Sea, mainly because she could not hear his voice. At first she thought that it was because her mantra was not as strong as the priests or Enel's but Enel couldn't sense him either.

'Wait….Enel didn't sense Connor either?' Asia thought 'why can't he and I hear him?'

"So are you here to join me? There's still room on my ship after all," Enel said smugly.

"After what you did to my Nakama…I'll kick your ass for that," Luffy declared.

"Then why" Enel asked "Surly you know only death awaits you now?"

"No, I won't die," Luffy said seriously.

"Such insolence, I am a god you know," Enel claimed.

"What makes you a God?" Luffy yelled as he charged at Enel.

He ran up one of the giant oars and used his rubber powers to stretch onto the one of the propellers.

"I see…your no ordinary human, however it appears you are a Pamaramica type; you're no match for me," Enel said calmly and electricity formed in his hand.

Luffy launched himself off the propeller directly at Enel.

"You asked what makes me a god; this is my answer," Enel stated "EL THOR!"

As soon as Luffy landed on the arks railing Enel unleashed a huge stream of electrical power that engulfed Luffy as he was flying towards Enel, Nami fell to her knees in disappear as her last hope for survival was being obliterated in front of her eyes. Enel smirked knowing he had killed Luffy

"No…" Nami said.

Once the power died down Enel smirk turned to shock as Luffy was standing there completely un-harmed and unfazed by the attack.

"Hph, I'm impressed that you managed to doge that," Enel said "But you won't get lucky a second time," Enel said and charged up a more powerful blast of lighting and shot it a Luffy.

However Luffy still stood there defiantly and unaffected by the blast.

'Doge…but that hit him directly?' Nami thought.

Enel disappeared and reappeared in front of Luffy, he reached out his hand and touched Lufys head sending over a million volts through the pirates body. Enel smirked knowing that he had gotten Luffy that time as there was no way for him to doge the gods attacks at such close range.

"Got him," Enel said triumphantly as he

However his victory was short lived as the blst faded and Luffy was still standing there like nothing had happened.

"QUIT MESSING AROUND!" Luffy screamed angrily.

Enel's Eyes, jaw dropped as he could not believe what he was seeing.

'Of course…why didn't I think of it before,' Nami released 'Luffy…he's made of rubber,'

'This is impossible…how can he be immune to my Lighting….nothing is immune to lighting,' Enel panicked.

Luffy reeled back his arm and it stretched backwards, once it was a far as he could reach his rubber arm flew forward sailing right towards Enel.

"GOMU-GMOU PIATIOL!" Luffy cried.

Enel watched the first fly towards him but he made no move to doge it.

'Calm down it doesn't matter if he's immune to lighting. I'm a Logia type user there's no way he can actually hurt me,' Enel thought to himself.

However a second later Luffy's rubber fist collided with Enel's stomach and much to everyone's surprise the god cried out in pain as he was flung back across the cavern and slammed into the opposing wall.

'Luffy your rubber body lets you completely nullify and bypass Enel's lighting powers…you may be the only one person in the world who can stand up to Enel…you're his natural enemy,' Nami thought.

* * *

 _Angel Island_

The citizens of Angel Island were going about their day with very little care, ever since the straw hats had departed for Upper Yard yesterday the angel community had calmed down and everyone had gone back to their normal routine content that the Blue Sea criminals had been dealt with and life would continue as normal.

The White Berets were out patrolling although since the criminals had been dealt with they were really just out for a walk around town. Suddenly McKinly stopped.

"Huh…that's weird," he said.

"Captain…what is it?" one of the White Berets asked.

"I thought I heard the sound of a waver approaching," McKinly said.

"Did it happen to sound like waver with two dials, a novelty horn, a large flag, looks like a bull and has a single girl riding it who is approaching the dock at top speed?" the man responded.

"That's oddly specific," McKinly responded "but I suppose it did. How would you know that?"

"Because a waver fitting that discerption is coming right for us," the man replied.

McKinly turned and looked towards the White Sea and sure enough there was a wave approaching at high speed. He instantly recognised Conis as the driver.

That's…" McKinly started but did not get to finish as the waver slammed into his face sending him flying backwards into a nearby building.

"CAPTAIN!" the rest of his men yelled and ran over to him.

"Captain are you alright?" one of McKinly's men asked.

"W…W…" McKinly started.

"He's trying to say something," a White Beret said.

"His last words perhaps?" a second man asked.

"The name of his successor," another said.

"Wh…Wh…Why…" McKinly continued.

"Shh…let's hear our captain's words of wisdom," a third said.

The platoon of White Berets' landed in close, eager to hear there captains last words and sage advice he was about to bestow upon them.

"WHY DO PEOPLE KEEP CRASHING THEY'RE WAVERES ON MY FACE?!" McKinly shouted irritably.

No sooner had he said that Conis lost control of her waver as it was not meant to be used on solid cloud and jumped out before it crashed. Unfortunately it headed straight to McKinly and the rest of the White Berets moved out of the way before the waver crashed into him again for a second time.

While the White Berets assisted there leader the rest of the citizens were staring at Conis in shock and fear. They all stepped away from her as they knew her to be a criminal and a heretic; Conis looked over the crowd and stoop up.

"Everyone…Listen to me," Conis started "We don't have much time,"

The crowed quickly got over there initial shock and started yelling insults at Conis, they demanded that she leave so they would not be caught up in Heavens Judgment. Conis however was desperately trying to convey her warning on Skypeias imminent destruction but everyone was too busy shouting at her to listen.

One of the White Berets ran up to her with his sword drawn.

"How dare you assault our Captain, you heretic," he cried in rage.

Conis saw him coming and she quickly took the metal tube off her back and pointed at the approaching solider, the White Beret stopped and Conis looked him dead in the eye.

"This is a Burn Bazooka…I will shoot you," Conis said seriously with a desperate look on her face.

The crowed seemed just as shocked as the solder who had tried o attack Conis. Conis used this opportunity to get her message across.

"Everyone listen to me, you have to leave Angel Island at once. Get to the boats and make your way to the Could End and the Blue Sea," Conis implored.

"This land is on the brink of destruction, you all must leave at once. Launch all the boats," Conis continued "God Enel plans to destroy this island; if we stay here no one will survive,"

The crowed stared at here in shock wondering what madness had possessed her. Eventually one man spoke up.

"Ha like we'll believe that," he said.

"That's right, Lord Enel would never do that," another woman agreed.

"This is revenge isn't it,"

"You're trying to take us down with you,"

"It won't work; we're not heretics like you,"

"Get out of here,"

A child pushed himself to the front of the crowed.

"Don't disrespect Lord Enel," the child said and threw a tomato at Coins.

It hit her on her cheek and the child instantly became afraid that she would turn the Bazooka on him.

"I…I…I'm sorry," the child apologised fearfully.

Conis looked back directly at the child, who had thrown the tomato; it was clear that they would not believe her.

"You want proof…fine," Conis said.

She dropped her Burn Bazooka on the ground and took a deep breath.

"I DO NOT ACCEPT ENEL AS A GOD!" Conis declared loudly and proudly for all to hear.

The crowed instantly erupted into panic and they fled away from Conis, fearing that they would be caught in heavens judgment. They only had a few seconds before Enel would unleash the divine wrath of heaven down upon Conis and anyone unlucky enough to caught nearby.

Coins stood still waiting for the divine retabution to come; she prayed that she was right and in declaring that she had no faith in Enel she would not be stuck down. After about a minute Conis was still standing there and no judgment had been issued.

"W…What's going on…where's heavens judgment?" McKinly asked. He had gotten the waver off him during Coins speech.

The rest of the citizens seemed to notice the lack of lighting too and were just as confused as the leader of the White Beret.

"Why…where's the Judgment?" a woman asked.

"And after saying such sacrileges things too," another said.

"It's because there is no point," Conis claimed. Getting everyone's attention again.

"There is no point in silencing one voice when Enel is about to silence everyone. He is most likely saving conserving his power to wipe us all out in one go," Conis claimed "we have to leave while we still can,"

"But…But why would he do that?" A child asked "God is supposed to help and protect us,"

"Listen we all know that Enel is a horrible monster, he doesn't care about us or anything. We all saw his true colours six years ago when he invaded our land. But instead of fighting back we chose to submit to him…we chose to pretend everything was fine when it wasn't," Conis continued.

"So please everyone escape, this land is doomed we must get to Cloud end and the Blue Sea before Enel kills us all," Conis finished.

The crowed was silent again as they processed what Conis was telling them and what they had seen.

"How would we survive? We know nothing of the sea below…what if it is ruled by savages and they attack us on sight," A man called out.

"There's no what if about it, we're different so of course they'll attack us," another man said.

"They'll harm our children if we go down there. There savages just look at the Shandorins," A woman agreed.

"So you'll just stay here and die then?" Conis asked angrily.

"Well….god just might change his mind," an old man said.

"Yeah I mean why would he destroy us at all?" anther agreed.

Conis could not believe what she was hearing, even after seeing that Enel no longer saw fit to punish her, the people of Angel Island still refused to believe her. She quickly picked her Bazooka off the ground and fired it into the air.

"For the last six years Enel has been oppressing us and killing unjust for speaking our minds, he has always made us suffer and now he is going to kill us," Conis said "the longer we wait the less people we will save,"

"But…" a citizen tried.

Conis had had enough.

"No buts, if you have chosen to lay down and die then I will kill you myself," Conis said seriously "So you have three choices: 1. wait for Enel to kill you, 2. Stay here and I will kill you, or 3. Get your asses on those boats and take your chances on the Blue Sea,"

The crowd reacted instantly and it scattered into panic as they all fled to get everything they could carry and necessary supplies that they would need. Conis watched them go and breathed a sigh of relief as her people finally started seeing sense.

Conis walked over to her downed Waver and picked it up.

"You did a brave thing miss," McKinly said coming over.

Conis looked at him in surprise.

"I just…couldn't let everyone die," Conis claimed.

"Do you want to know the truth?"

"Truth?" Coins asked curiously.

"We the White Beret used to be Gan Falls enforcers, however when Enel took over we dedicated ourselves to making sure that all citizens obeyed and respected the law so no one would get hurt," McKinly said.

"So…so you know what kind of man he is," Conis said in shock.

"We have always known, we pushed those stupid laws so no one would die and keep everyone safe. I know it was wrong but I just did not want another incident like Bilka," McKinly explained.

"Bikla?" Conis asked.

"An island far off to the west, unlike us the people there were warriors instead of builders, one day it just disappeared," McKinly claimed.

"How?"

"I never figured it out but one thing I did know was Bikla was the island that Enel was born on," McKinly said seriously.

Conis gasped realising the implications.

"And not long after it's destruction Enel comes here, it did not take long to put two and two together," McKinly said sadly.

"So…Enel destroyed his own island?" Conis asked.

"There is no proof but yes, that is the most likely scenario," McKinly said "But that's not important, what is important that you evacuate as well,"

Conis shook her head.

"I can't I have to help the Blue Sea dwellers escape," Conis claimed.

"The Blue Sea dwellers…they're still alive?" McKinly gasped.

"Yes they are still on Upper Yard and they do not know the way back down to the Blue Sea," Conis said "I can't leave them there,"

McKinly was going to argue but he realised that there was no point.

"Very well, we'll handle the evacuation here and meet on the Blue Sea," McKinly said.

Conis nodded, she retrieved her waver and put it back on the Waver and zoomed off heading back towards Upper Yard.

McKinly watched her go.

"Sir…that girl…she's going to die isn't she?" one of the White Beret asked.

"Yes…yes she is," McKinly said regretfully "her and the Blue Sea dwellers will die as there is no way they will make it from Upper Yard to Clouds End in time,"


	50. Skypia Pt 14

**_A.n I own Nothing_**

 ** _Lately I have been getting a lot of questions about the story, manlily about potential relationships between members of the Straw Hat crew. I would like to address this now._**

 ** _I will not be paring up anyone from the Straw Hats, so for those of you who were hoping to see Luffy/Nami or Zoro/Sanji this will not be happing. I personally am not a big fan of shipping stories and would like to keep this one close to the original material as possible. If I was going to pair anyone up it would be Connor._**

 ** _However I have no immediate plans to do so, perhaps later on I will consider it but as of right now all characters shall remain single and if some interest is expressed by one of the crew it is purely so the others can tease and make fun of that character._**

 ** _I hope this dose not put you off reading my Fic._**

 **As always, _P_** ** _lease Review_**

* * *

 _Upper ruins, next to Giant Jack_

Connor and Robin were watching the sky as it slowly grew dark and filled up with thick black storm clouds. Behind them were the unconscious forms of Wiper, Gan Fall, Zoro and Chopper. Thanks to Robins powers both she and Connor had been able to get their fallen friends to safety and climb back up the large bean stalk to the upper and what would be considered ground Level of Upper Yard.

Not long after they had finished the climb a large ship had ascended into the sky and thick black smoke had come out of the chimney and began to spread into the sky as the ship ascended. But it soon became clear it was not smoke as the air became moisturised and it felt like it was going to rain.

"Why is the sky going black?" Connor asked.

"Enel is probably going to use it to destroy this island," Robin answered.

"Oh…so Luffy was unable to stop him," Connor said sadly.

Robin was about to respond however something burst out of cloud beneath them and ran up the beanstalk. It was Luffy; he was carrying Aisa and Pierre. He had a huge golden ball attached to his wrist and despite the fact it would be very heavy and be putting a considerable strain on his arm Luffy was running up the beanstalk at top speed.

"Luffy?" Robin gasped.

"Is that…gold on his arm?" Connor asked "where did he get that?"

Luffy didn't notice his friends but thankfully Aisa did and she alerted him to them. Luffy stopped running and looked down to see both Robin and Connor staring up at him.

"Robin take care of these two," Luffy ordered and threw Aisa and Pierre down to her.

Robin caught both of them with her powers which freaked Aisa out.

"AGHHHH SHE GREW ARMS!" Aisa screamed.

"Where's Enel?!" Luffy demanded.

"Up there," Robin said and pointed to Enel's ark was slowly gaining altitude, she was clearly ignoring Aisa.

"The gold Bell, is it up there too?" Luffy asked.

"Yes, it's the only place it could be. I do not believe that Enel has it yet," Robin claimed.

"Right, thanks Robin," Luffy said and ran up further up the bean stalk.

"Luffy wait," Robin tired but the rubber captain was already gone.

Once he was gone Robin looked down at Aisa who was still freaking out that Robin had grown extra arms.

"Now, could you tell me where our Navigator is?" Robin asked "she has orange hair,"

This seemed to snap Aisa out of her shock.

"Oh you mean Nami, she was on Enel's ship," Aisa claimed.

Aisa turned and looked up at the ship but became confused.

"That's odd, I only hear one voice coming from the ship," Aisa claimed.

"One voice?" Robin asked in confusion.

"Aisa here has the same power as the priests and Enel," Connor explained "she can use Mantra,"

"I see," Robin said in understanding "Is Nami's voice coming from the sky?"

"No…I only hear Enel up there," Aisa supplied.

"Only Enel?" Connor asked and he looked up at the ship "then…where's Nami?"

Before Asia could answer a lightning bolt struck the ground nearby. Robin looked at the now charred bit of cloud and then at the sky, she could see flashes of lighting in the dark sky above.

"Oh no..." Robin whispered.

"Robin…what's wrong?" Connor asked.

"Enel's plan has started," Robin claimed gravely "It won't be long now,"

"Then we have to leave while we can," Aisa claimed.

"We can't, Luffy just went ran up the beanstalk, Nami's missing and we won't get back to the ship in time…even if we didn't have to carry them," Robin claimed and looked down at the unconses men.

"So….what do we do?" Connor asked.

Before Robin could respond an engine was herd coming towards them, the engine turned out to be Nami's Waver with her, Usopp and an unconces Sanji riding on it. Usopp called out to them as they approached. She stopped in front of the group and Usopp got off the waver and lay Sanjiss body near Zoros.

"Nami, you're okay," Asia cheered.

"Asia, Connor," Nami said happy to see that the children were alright. She then looked at Robin.

"Robin I'm glad you're okay but we need to leave now, where's Luffy?" Nami asked.

"You just missed him, he ran up the beanstalk with this huge golden ball attached to his arm," Connor claimed.

"Huge…golden ball? Where did he get that?" Nami asked.

"I don't know but he left a minute ago," Robin said.

Nami looked up at the bean stalk and the dark clouds, she could tell by the atmosphere that things were very bad and it was only going to get worse.

"Alright, I'll go and get him, the rest of you hurry and get back to the ship. I'll grab Luffy and be right behind you," Nami claimed.

"Nami…what's going to happen?" Connor asked.

"Those dark clouds…will produce a lightning storm," Nami claimed "However instead of rain lighting will fall almost no stop, we have to leave before it gets any worse,"

"L…L…Lightings going to fall like rain?" Usopp asked terrified.

"Yes," Nami claimed and a bolt of lighting struck the forest as she said that.

Nami then aimed her waver at the beanstalk and floored the accelerator; she sped towards and followed the beanstalk upwards. The rest of the crew watched her go.

Connor looked at Usopp.

"Why didn't you and Sanji stay on the ship?" Connor asked.

"Oh…after we woke up Sanji claimed that Nami needed him, he grabbed me and dragged me running through the forest. We went up to Enel's ark to save Nami but got beaten again and jumped off to escape," Usopp said.

"You jumped off….from that height?" Connor asked and looked up at the ark.

"It was lower when we jumped off but…Oh MY GOD I WAS TERREIFED!" Usopp cried "I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE!"

"BUT NO FALL COULD STOP THE BRAVE CAPTIAN USOPP!" Usopp declared and laughed loudly. Though his knees were shaking and it was obvious he was still terrified.

'He's fine,' Connor and Robin thought together.

Just then both Zoro and Wiper woke up, Aisa ran to wipers side and helped him sit up, Usopp did the same with Zoro. Both warriors looked around confused and then noticed that both children from their respective groups were safe and sound.

"Aisa…you're alive?" Wiper asked in surprise "how? The snake ate you and then Enel's lighting…"

Aisa nodded.

"We did get eaten but…I don't know what happened, when we got out the snake was all charred and black," Asia claimed.

"But those pirates …have been looking after me," Aisa said and looked over at the Straw Hats.

Wiper looked over to the pirates and he could see that Zoro was having a similar conversation with Connor and Robin. Zoro noticed Wiper staring at them and met his gaze, he then looked at Connor.

"So…you and that tribal girl huh, I approve," Zoro joked.

"That's…That's not how it is," Connor shouted in annoyance while blushing.

"You're blushing," Robin teased.

"I am not," Connor shot back.

Zoro smirked and then looked up at the dark clouds and the lighting that was falling.

"Hey what happened to the sky?" Zoro asked.

Robin explained what Enel was doing and that he was currently in the process of all of Skypiea, despite the situation Luffy had run off to the top of the beanstalk to face Enel again and how the golden bell was at the top of the beanstalk.

This information surprised Wiper as he had grown up on legends on the golden bell that his people lost when they first arrived in the sky. Many Shadorins believed it did not exist and was only a legend. Gan Fall was also surprised as he believed the bell had not rung because of the ongoing war with the Shandorins; not because no one knew where the bell was.

"So that's what's going on," Zoro said, he then sent a weary glance at Aisa.

"Hey girl, what happened to Luffy the first time? Did Enel knock him out?" Zoro asked.

"Huh…no, he just attached some gold to him and then pushed him off the Ark," Aisa answered.

'So that means the kid is still safe…for now anyway,' Zoro thought.

"HEY SOMTHINGS COMEING DOWN, GET WAY FROM THE BEANSTALK!" Usopp suddenly cried.

The group moved and as soon as they did a huge part of of the beanstalk crashed into the ground, when the dust cleared the Straw Hats stared at it in shock.

"What…What is that?" Zoro asked.

"It looks…like the top of the beanstalk," Robin claimed.

"How did it get down here?" Connor asked.

"Perhaps it was struck by lightning," Gan Fall suggested.

"It's more like Enel hit it to take Luffy out," Robin claimed.

"What? Luffy and Nami didn't fall with it did they?" Usopp panicked and looked around.

"If they did they would have hit the ground by now," Robin said.

Wiper stared at the beanstalk and then looked up at the sky, the fact that Enel had broken the top of the beanstalk meant that he did not want anyone following him to the golden bell.

"I…I have to go," Wiper said and started to walk towards the beanstalk, however he did not get far.

"Wiper stop, your hurt," Aisa tried.

"No, it's up there," Wiper claimed "the golden bell is up there, it has to be rung,"

"Why?" Asia asked.

"So we can get our homeland back. It was the Shandoran tribe's duty to protect and ring the bell;" Wiper claimed "we have failed in that for the last 400yrs,"

"Even so…you can't climb the beanstalk, you can barely stand," Aisa urged.

"Uh…Aisa…I think we have bigger problems," Connor said fearfully.

Aisa and Wiper looked over to the boy and saw that he was staring upwards; they looked up and saw a giant round sphere of dark clouds descending from the sky. It crackled with electrical energy and it was directly above Angel Island.

"W…What is that?!" Wiper yelled.

* * *

 _God's Shrine, near the top of Giant Jack_

Luffy and Nami were at what was left of gods shrine, it wasn't much as the former home of both Enel and Gan Fall was in complete ruins and judging form the destruction that had been done it was clear that Enel was responsible for it.

Luffy stared out into the storm and watched as the giant sphere of clouds descended to Angel Island and when it was right above it, the spheres exploded. Unleashing an enormous and devastating amount of lighting that could only be described as divine wrath.

It was so destructive that not only did it destroy Angel Island, the surrounding White Sea but the Shandorin's hidden village as well. When it was over there was nothing but a large hole in the clouds that were charged with electricity.

Nami stared at the destruction that Enel had caused, she then looked around and noted that the lighting falling form the sky had not only increased it's intensity but also were becoming more and more frequent.

"Luffy, we have to go we're out of time," Nami claimed.

"No," Luffy said seriously.

"No? Luffy we don't have time for this, if we don't get leave and get back to the ship we'll be killed," Nami said.

"We can't leave yet, I still have something to do," Luffy claimed.

"What could you possibly have to do here?" Nami asked.

Luffy turned to her.

"You saw it right? You saw the city of gold. It's not at the bottom of the sea," Luffy claimed.

"Gold…Luffy I fo you want gold you have plenty on your arm," Nami claimed.

"I don't want gold…I want to ring the bell," Luffy declared.

"Why? Enel's probably found it by now, even if you're not affected by his lighting you'll never get up to him," Nami claimed.

"That bell is supposed to be huge, and we're above Jaya. If it's rung than the Cricket and his monkeys will hear it. They'll know that Noland wasn't a liar, they'll know that the city of gold dose exist," Luffy claimed.

"Why dose that matter?" Nami asked.

"Because if they don't hear it then they'll keep diving into the ocean until they die," Luffy claimed "they'll die Nami and they would have died for nothing, I can't let Enel have that bell,"

Nami stared at Luffy for a moment and then sighed.

"Even so…Enel's too high up," Nami claimed.

She looked up at the ark, it had stopped near one of the larger clouds and was trying to think of way to get up there, she knew Luffy would not leave until he got what he wanted. Suddenly she had an idea.

'If the ark doesn't move….it might be possible…' Nami thought.

"Alright Luffy, I'll help you get up there…but we do it my way," Nami said.

"Huh…what's your way?" Luffy asked.

Nami merely smirked in response.

* * *

 _Upper Ruins, Ground Level Base of Giant Jack_

The Straw Hats were still at the base of the beanstalk, Usopp was trying to get them all to leave and return to this ship, after seeing the giant ball of storm clouds explode it made sense to flee while they still could.

However no one seemed to want to move or go anywhere, the realty was that even if they did make it back to the ship they would not escape back to the Blue Sea before Enel completely destroyed the sky and none of them were willing to leave Luffy and Nami behind.

Suddenly something large floated down towards the group.

"Hey…something's coming down," Usopp claimed.

The group backed up in case it was another part of the beanstalk but what fell was a giant leaf with a message written on it in Namis hand writing.

" _Cut the beanstalk_ ," it read, there was also a small a small compasses points drawn with the W circled.

"Wait…Nami wants us to cut the beanstalk down?" Usopp asked confused "why?"

"I don't know but judging by this she likely wants it to fall in a certain direction," Robin observed.

"So which part would I have to cut it to make it fall in that direction?" Zoro asked.

"This side," Robin claimed and showed Zoro the correct side.

"Right, better get too it," Zoro said.

However before he could draw his sword lighting struck the ground in front of him. In fact it seemed to increase and create holes leading back down to the lost city.

"We have to go, were too exposed here," Usopp cried.

"Everyone get back to solid vearth," Gan fall ordered.

The group ran for the forest and once they were there lighting stopped, it was clear that enel knew why Nami wanted the beanstalk cut down and he was not going to let it happen. Usopp took a hesitant step back on to the clouds and lightning struck again.

"Enel…doesn't want us near Giant Jack," Gan Fall observed.

"Why would Straw Hat want the beanstalk cut down anyway?" Wiper asked.

"Perhaps…perhaps Nami plans to launch the waver off the beanstalk while it's falling as a way to get to Enel," Robin theorised.

"Is that possible?" Connor asked.

"In theory yes and if the falling beanstalk will cover at least half the distance between the ark and where we are…if the Waver is fast enough then it just might be able to reach Enel's ark," Robin answered.

"So all we have to do is slice that thing down," Zoro said.

"But how do we get there? Enel has Mantra, he can see and predict our every move…he can probably hear us talking," Wiper claimed.

"We'll just have to out run the lightning then," Zoro said seriously.

"You can't out run lighting," Usopp pointed out.

"Well…we might be able too," Aisa said.

"How?" Zoro asked.

"I have Mantara too…and I can hear everyone here…except him," Asia said and looked at Connor.

"What?" Wiper gasped "that's impossible,"

"I know but it's true, I can't hear him and if I can't hear him while he's standing right in front of me then I doubt Enel or his priests can either," Aisa claimed.

"Wait…Mantara doesn't work on me?" Connor asked.

Aisa shook her head.

"When Luffy confronted Enel he said that only three of us escaped the snake and when he asked about you Enel claimed that Luffy was trying to trick him into thinking that there were four of us," Aisa explained.

"Wait so…Enel doesn't know that Connor is here?" Usopp asked.

"Aisa…did all the priests have Mantra too?" Connor asked.

"Yes," Wiper answered.

"I see…this explains why Shuna was so surprised to see me when he attacked," Connor realised "he could not see me with his mantra and could not predict my moves,"

Connor looked back at the beanstalk.

"This means I could potently make it to the beanstalk without Enel knowing," Connor said.

"Hold on kid, I get what your thinking but that thing is too big and thick for you to cut down on your own," Zoro said.

"He's right plus even if Enel can't see you with his Mantra you could still get hit by stray lightning bolts," Usopp pointed out.

"Not if Enel was directing them," Wiper claimed.

"Meaning?" Connor asked.

"If Enel was directing the lighting away from him…he could make it too Giant Jack safety," Wiper claimed.

"And just how do you plan on directing lighting controlled by a raging psychopath with a massive god complex?" Usopp asked.

"Simple…live bait," Wiper said.

"I see…we give Enel a target to aim his lighting at while the kid runs towards the beanstalk," Zoro said.

"But if Enel hits the target, the lighting will go back to being wild," Robin stated.

"Not if there were multiple targets," Zoro said.

"And who would be dumb enough to be a distraction for Enel?" Usopp asked.

Wiper and Zoro looked at him.

"I AM NOT GOING!" Usopp screamed.

"Yes you are, we all are," Zoro said seriously "Wiper you and I will run to the beanstalk giving Enel something to shoot at. The kid can't bring that beanstalk down on his own, we are going to race Enel's lighting and if we get there we are going to bring that thing down or die trying,"

"I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" Usopp claimed.

"You do realise if we do nothing Enel will destroy us all anyway," Robin pointed out.

"Stop being so morbid," Usopp shouted.

"She's right," Gan Fall agreed "if anything doing this may save us all,"

"If you're so willing to go then you be the bait," Usopp shot back.

"I am an old man, I would never make it to the bean stalk," Gan Fall claimed.

"Face it Usopp your coming," Zoro said.

"Ughh…fine," Usopp sighed.

Zoro nodded and looked at Connor.

"We'll run out and you follow three seconds later," Zoro said.

Connor nodded.

"Before you go, don't draw your sward until you're at the beanstalk," Robin advised "otherwise it will act as a lightning rod and Enel won't have to direct the lighting towards you,"

"Got it," Zoro acknowledged.

He then looked at the others.

"Ready?" he asked.

Connor and Wiper nodded.

"No," Usopp responded.

"Tough, let's go," Zoro said and he ran out onto of the forest.

As soon as he did lighting started to strike, thankfully Zoro was able to doge the bolts, thought there were a few close calls. Wiper followed Zoro running on the opposite side and quite far away from the Blue Sea swordsmen; Usopp ran out as well at top speed.

Connor waited a few seconds before he too ran out towards the beanstalk, like Aisa had predicated none of the lighting fell near him, it appeared Enel could not see him with his Mantara. The lighting continued to strike at Zoro, Usopp and Wiper though there were brief intervals between each strike.

'Enel must only be able to aim one strike at a time,' Robin thought as she watched from the relative safety of the forest.

The first one to reach the beanstalk was Zoro and he leapt over the large hole that led down to the Lost city and sliced the first half of the beanstalk away, despite losing half its support Giant Jack still remained sturdy and up right.

Unfortunately since Zoro was now in the air he could no longer doge the lighting strikes and he was hit by a blast of lighting and fell down towards the lower levels of the ruins.

The next person to reach the Giant Jack was Usopp and he had seen Zoro fall, he got into position and started shooting flaming ammo at Giant Jack, he kept moving to avoid the lightning bolts. Unfortunately his attacks did very little and Enel struck him down him down too.

Connor reached the beanstalk and using the part that Zoro had cut as a ledge he launched himself at the beanstalk and sliced the remaining half with his blade. Unfortunately he was not enough and only made a quarter of the way through. Giant Jack moaned and swayed a bit but it did not fall.

"No…I'm not strong enough," Connor said.

He was about to try again when Wiper landed nest to him, the Shandoran warrior grabbed Connor by the shirt and throw him of the Giant jack and Connor landed back on the cloud layer. Wiper placed is hand on Giant Jack.

"REJECT!" Wiper yelled and he activated his Reject Dial.

The following explosion was enough to break Giant Jack and it started to fall towards the west, Wiper was launched backwards and fell towards the lost city below.

Connor looked at up at the beanstalk that was now falling in the correct direction.

"It's all up to you now Luffy," Connor said.

* * *

 _Gods Shrine, Top of Giant Jack_

Nami and Luffy were waiting for the beanstalk to fall, they were ready to go and it had been several minutes since Nami had sent her message down to the other Straw Hats, she hoped they got it. While they were waiting a second black Sphere had started too descend from the sky, this time over Upper Yard.

It was five times the size of the one that had destroyed Angel Island and likely five times as more powerful. Nami knew that this was for destroying Upper yard and the sky completely; it also meant that Enel had found the golden bell as he was now ready to destroy the sky.

"Come on…." Nami hissed "What's taking them so long?"

Suddenly Giant Jack began to move, Nami took it as a sign as the rest of the crew had managed to cut down the giant beanstalk.

"Nami Go as fast as you can," Luffy ordered.

"Right, just so you know I've never used the Wavers top speed before…I don't know if I can control it," Nami warned.

"Do it," Luffy ordered.

Nami nodded and floored the Accelerator and the waver took off at breakneck speed, it climbed the falling beanstalk and even though Luffy was dragging behind a golden ball the waver was not bothered by the extra weight.

Once they reached the top the Waver lunched into the air and it sailed towards Enel's Ark, however Nami and Luffy were still too low. Luffy could see Enel in front of the Golden Bell and he grabbed Namis shoulder.

"Nami…thanks," Luffy said.

Using the Waver as a step he jumped off it with all his strength sending both Nami and the waver back down to earth. Nami landed on a soft cloud and watched in horror as Luffy entered the Black Sphere.

"Luffy No…you may be immune to lighting but the pressure will tear you apart," Nami cried.

But it was too late Luffy had already entered. Nami herd Enel laugh at Luffys demise and the black sphere continued to descend. However it suddenly started discharging small bolts of lightning.

"What…why is that happing…it's to early for it to explode," Enel claimed.

Enel and Nami watched as the sphere continued to discharge and then Nami realised what was happening.

"Luffy…he used the golden ball to conduct the lightening into himself and disabled the currents," Nami gasped.

* * *

 _White Sea_

The people of both Angel Island and the Shandorans were staring at the sky in complete terror, they had just seen their home completely destroyed by Enel black cloud Sphere and now a second and larger one had formed.

The inhabitants of Angel Island had all managed to evacuate in time thanks to Conis warning and when the first boats had passed the Shandoras village they had warned them too. Even though they had all gotten out they were in shock over the loss of their home.

Now that Enel was going to unleash a second large and more powerful strike that would wipe out the sky completely, the survivors who had only barely escaped the destruction of Angel island did the only thing they could.

They got on their knees and prayed for miracle.

* * *

Inside the Black speared Luffy was wildly swinging around the golden ball and drawing the lighting into his body, his actions were upsetting the delict nature of Enel's attack and the sphere slowly and surly started to shrink.

Luffy continued to swing his golden ball as the black sphere until the black sphere was completely destabilised and the stored energy discharged harmlessly into the clouds above Upper Yard. Once it was gone there was hole in the clouds bringing light to the darkness and Luffy was there in the middle of it.

And he was pissed.

"WWWHHHHAAAATTTTTTTTT?!" Enel screamed in shock. He knew Luffy was dangerous but he did not think that he would completely negate his black sphere of destruction.

"ENEL!" Luffy screamed in anger "I WON'T LET YOU HAVE IT!"

Luffy reeled back the arm with the golden ball on it and stretched it back as far as he would go twisting it around tightly.

"I…I…Impossible…your just a mortal…I am a god," Enel said in complete shock.

"I'M GOIN TO RING THAT BELL WITH YOUU!" Luffy screamed.

Luffy launched his attack at Enel and the weight of the golden ball drew him closer to the cloud with the bell, he smashed straight through Enel's Ark and hit the mad god in the gut. His rubber fist nullified Enel's Loiga form and the gold ball slammed into Enel.

Luffys arm twisted itself and the ball further into Enel causing massive damage and sending the god into a spin; Enel could not do anything to stop Luffy and the rubber man's fist kept going forcing Enel back until both Enel and the golden bell were sent flying into the air.

Luffy hit the bell with such force that it shattered the gold on his arm, as the bell fell with Enel it rang, producing the most beautiful sound anyone had ever heard.

"CAN YOU HEAR IT CRICKET…THE BELL IS RINGING, THE CITY OF GOLD IS IN THE SKY!" Luffy called out at the top of his lungs.

* * *

 _White Sea_

The survivors were in shock they had all prayed for a miracle and that is exactly what they got. Not only had Enel's black sphere of death been stopped somehow but they had seen his ark be completely destroyed and Upper Yard was singing it's song.

A song that had not been herd in 400yrs.

For the Shandorans and the Angels this was truly a divine sign, after all the fighting, all the pain and loss, after everything Enel had done Upper Yard was finally singing again.

After 400yrs the war was finally over.

* * *

 _Crickets house Jaya, Grand Line_

Cricket sat on the edge of the cape overlooking the ocean; it had been two days since he had sent the Straw Hats off to the sky. Cricket of course had no clue if they had made it or not and he should not really care but he could not help but worry about the pirate crew.

After Luffy and his crew had departed for the sky Shoujou and Masira had come back and informed them that the Straw Hats had made it to the knock up stream. The Saruyama Alliance had spent the last two days recovering from the injuries that Belemys Pirate crew had inflicted.

Now Cricket was enjoying a smoke while watching the ocean wondering if the Straw Hats had made it to the sky or had plummeted to their deaths.

"Boss, how are you feeling?" Masira asked as he and Shoujou approached.

"I'm good, I think I can start diving again tomorrow," Cricket claimed.

"That's good; I found an underwater series of tunnels on the north side of the island. I bet there's some gold in there," Shoujou said proudly "my men can't wait to explore it,"

"A series of underwater tunnels eh…sounds promising," Cricket agreed.

"Yep, we're getting the gear ready to go now," Masira claimed "What are you thinking about?"

"Oh I was just thinking about that Straw Hat kid, I hope he made it to the sky," Cricket claimed.

"He was interesting that's for sure," Masira agreed.

"Too bad we have no way of knowing if they made it or not," Shoujou said.

"Yeah, it is," Cricket agreed.

Suddenly a loud and beautiful sound was heard, it echoed thorough out the Island.

"What's that?" Shoujou asked.

"I don't know but it is beautiful," Masira commented "where is it coming from?"

Cricket froze; he looked around for the source but could not see anything that would make such a heavenly sound. He looked at the sea and the very waves had stilled as if the ocean itself was listing to the sound.

"I…I…It can't be," Cricket gasped.

"What…what is it boss?" both Shoujou and Masira asked at the same time.

"It's…It's Noland's bell…it has to be," Cricket claimed.

"Norland's bell…form the city of gold?" Masira gasped "But where's it coming from?"

"there is only one place it could be," Cricket said and looked up at the clouds.

There in the sky was a giant shadow monster, only it looked different from the ones that were normally seen, this one was a lot less menacing and no weapons or triable like features; instead this monstrous shadow had a Straw Hat.

"Well I'll be…they made it," Masira said in surprise.

"Yeah and it sounds like we've been looking in the wrong direction. This whole time, Eldardo, the city my ancestor discovered was in the sky," Cricket said.

He then broke down in tears of joy and happiness as he felt the weight of his family's name and curse being lifted.

Noland hadn't been lying after all.

* * *

On the opposite side of the Island Bellamy stood staring with wide eyes filled with admiration and surprise at the shadowy figure in the clouds.

"S…S…Straw Hat," Bellamy whispered.


	51. Skypia Pt 15

_**A.n I own nothing**_

 _ **Please Review**_

* * *

The survivors of both Sky Island and Shandora started at the now clearing sky, after the golden bell had been rung the dark clouds that held both death and despair had started to drift away, and not long afterwards Enel and his ark fell into the White Sea. It took a moment to for the survivors to register what they had just seen but once it clicked they all cheered happily.

With nowhere else to go both the Shandorans and the Angel Islanders headed for upper yard, once they landed the Angela Islanders took in the scenery and all the beauty that Upper yard had to offer.

The Shandoran landed further away from the Angle Islanders, and headed into the forest to look for the warriors who went into battle Enel and his men. They also wanted to set the Priests to Cloud Drifting before they recovered. Even with Enel gone they would not give them a chance to recover there lost power.

The Shandorans found almost all of their warriors alive and were relieved that a majority had survived, however those that did survive were very badly injured and would need medical attention if they wanted to remain amongst the living.

Though they did not want to get help from the Angel Islanders as the last 400yrs of war could not be forgotten so easily.

* * *

 _Upper ruins, now the top of Giant Jack_

Robin, Connor, Aisa, Sanji and Chopper started to walk towards the ruins, fully intending in going back down to the Lost City below them to check on Zoro and Wiper as they had both fallen back down there in the battle against Enel.

Now that Giant Jack had been cut in half the only way down to the city was through the ruins that Robin had discovered, she led the group to the opening of the building. However right before they went inside the Chief of the Shandoran tribe emerged from the trees and approached the group, he stopped about twenty feet from the pirates.

Gan Fall saw the rest of the tribe and the Shandoran warriors in the trees ready to strike at a moment's notice.

"Aisa," the Chief said in relief.

"Chief…you made it," Aisa said happily and ran over to him.

"Yes we all did," The Chief claimed.

"Everyone?" Aisa asked.

Just then Laki emerged from the trees and approached Aisa.

"Everyone," she responded.

Aisa suddenly broke into tears and ran straight at Laki, she enveloped her in a big hug as she thought the female warrior had died. The rest of the group watched this reunion and Robin walked over to Laki and the Chief.

"Aisa," Robin started.

Laki held Aisa tighter and glared at the woman who she perceived as an enemy. Aisa however looked at her tearfully.

"We're going to head down to the city, come join us when you're ready," Robin said with a smile. She then turned and walked off.

The rest of the pirates started to head into the ruins and Gan Fall hesitated staring at the shandorin tribe in contemplation before he too followed the

Once they were gone the Chief looked at Aisa.

"Aisa you shouldn't have run off the way you did," the Chief scolded.

"I know, I'm sorry," Aisa sniffed.

"Still the important thing is that you're safe," the Chief claimed.

"Aisa…who were those people?" Laki asked.

Aisa looked up and Laki and explained everything that had happened since she met the Straw Hats, several other Shandoran warriors came over to listened as well. Laki and the Chief were very concerned when she told them that not only had she been with Gan Fall but she had also helped fight Enel.

Though they did not believe her when she told them she was eaten by a giant snake.

"Oh no…I forgot about Wiper," Aisa panicked.

"Wiper?" the Chief asked.

"Yeah he and two others were hit by lightning while cutting down Giant Jack," Aisa claimed "I should go see if he's okay,"

Aisa immediately turned and ran off towards the entrance to building that the pirates had gone through, Laki tried to stop her from going but Aisa ignored her and ran after the pirates.

"I thought she was afraid of Wiper," Laki said.

* * *

 _Lost City of Shandora,_

The rest of the Straw Hats had made their way back down to the lost city of gold and had easily found Usopp, Zoro and Wiper. Usopp and Zoro were sitting together talking and when the Chopper approached he freaked out on the condition that they were in.

Zoro however refused to let Chopper treat him and insisted that the doctor look after Wiper first as he was in a far worse condition. Chopper took one look at Wiper and began treating him; Gan Fall and Pierre wandered off to look for something but they promised they'd be back.

"Hey isn't that the weird guy who attacked us when we first arrived?" Sanji asked as he walked over.

"Yeah but without him...we probably wouldn't have taken down Enel," Zoro claimed "the least we can do is fix him up,"

Connor came over and sat next to Zoro.

"Zoro are you okay?" Connor asked in concern.

"Yeah I'm fine," Zoro claimed.

"But you got hit by lightning and fell back down here…again," Connor clamed.

"Yeah it was a shock," Zoro joked.

"That was terrible," Usopp groaned.

Connor however didn't laugh he just looked at Zoro with concern.

"Kid don't worry about me, it'll take more than the wrath of some wannabe god to take me out," Zoro assured.

Connor nodded, he still didn't feel any better though. Zoro, Usopp and Wiper had all used themselves as bait to protect him from Enel's lightening and all of them had been struck; it was a miracle they were still alive.

"By the way…good job on cutting the beanstalk down," Zoro said.

Connor seemed to cheer up at and smiled at the praise.

"So where are we?" Sanji asked looking around.

"This is the city that Noland discovered, the lost chit of Shandora," Robin answered.

"Wait…this is the city of gold?" Usopp asked.

"Yeah but it's all gone, Enel took it all to make his flying ship," Connor suppled.

"So…we're still broke then?" Sanji asked.

"Yep," Zoro answered.

"Man…what a wasted trip," Sanji sighed as he lit a cigarette.

"You know I'd rather have some of those Dials than gold, they looked really useful and once we get back down to the sea we won't be able to get them," Usopp claimed.

"That's true," Sanji agreed.

Suddenly Aisa came running over to the group, she ran straight up to Chopper who was in the process of treating Wiper.

"Who's that?" Sanji asked.

"A Shandoran girl we picked up," Zoro claimed.

"Do her parents know that she's here?" Usopp asked.

"Probably not, she ran away to Upper Yard without telling anyone," Connor claimed "But some of her tribe was in the ruins above so they likely know she's here,"

"Well that's something I guess," Zoro said.

"Speaking of the Shandorans…we have compony," Robin claimed.

She looked towards the building that connected the lost city to the upper ruins, the others followed her gaze and saw the warriors and the other Shandorans slowly come out and look around there ancestral home.

However they did not venture far from the building in fear of the Straw Hats Aisa noticed them and stared at her tribe for a moment. She then walked over to Robin and tugged on her jacket.

"Umm…a lot of the warriors form my tribe were injured in fighting the priests…can you treat them too?" Aisa asked.

Robin looked at Zoro.

"What are you looking at me for? Ask Chopper," Zoro responded.

Chopper looked up from his work and over to the Shandorans, he could see a lot of injured people. He then turned back to Aisa.

"I'll treat them, but they will have to wait till I am done here," Chopper said "in the meantime get all the injured into a building and have them sit or lie down,"

Aisa smiled and ran to tell her tribe what chopper said. The Shandorans were very surprised that a blue sea dweller was willing to help them; they found a building with some layered cloud on the ground and decided to use that.

Once Chopper had finished with Wiper he patched up the rest of the Straw Hats and then went to check the Shandorans and started to work on them. A lot of the Shandorans were suspicious of the talking animal doctor but they it was

Not long after Chopper had started the residents of Angel Island came down to the ruins as well, led by Pierre; they like the Shandorans were curious about the city. But they did not stay long as Pierre led them out of the city.

"Where are they going?" Usopp wondered.

"Never mind them…where are Nami-swan and Conis-chan?" Sanji asked.

"That's what you're worried about?" Usopp asked.

Robin walked over to the building where the Shandorans were and went inside, she came out a few moments later and came back to the Straw Hats.

"Aisa says that she can hear Luffy and Nami's voice on the island and that they are making their way back here," Robin said.

"That's a relief," Sanji said.

"Yeah that Mantra power is useful…I wonder if I could learn how to use it," Zoro said.

"To be honest I haven't herd of Mantra being used on the Grand Line so it could be a power native to the sky," Robin claimed.

"Is there anything similar?" Sanji asked.

"I have heard that some big name pirates and marines can predict attacks but that could be because they are highly experienced in battle," Robin claimed.

"Aww well I guess we won't be learning Mantra any time soon," Zoro sighed.

"That and the only one who can use it now is Aisa, seeing as how Enel and his priests are gone," Usopp pointed out.

"I wouldn't want those ass holes teaching me anything," Sanji claimed.

A short time later Gan Fall came back with Pierre and they were leading the survivors from Angel Island and approached the Straw Hats.

"Hey old man, if you're looking for a doctor you'll have to wait. Choppers busy with the Shandoran warriors," Usopp claimed.

"I see if your doctor is tending to the Shandorans would he mind looking after the people of Angel Island too?" Gan Fall asked.

"Sure, Chopper will get to them when he's done. But who are all those people?" Zoro asked.

"My old enforces, Enel had them build his ark for six years I brought there families and the survivors from Angel island here…I hope you don't mind,"

"It's not our city," Zoro shrugged.

Gan Fall nodded in understating; he went back to the survivors of Angel Island and directed them to a building where they would wait for Chopper. Once the doctor was done with the Shandorans he went to check on the Angel Island refugees, thankfully they were not as injured as the Shandorans.

The Shandorans were not happy that Gan Fall and the Islanders were in there ancient home but everyone was too tired and injured to do anything about it. At the same time the Angel Islanders were very weary of the Shandorans.

Not long after Chopper had finished treating everyone's injuries Luffy, Nami and Conis came running through the city with a huge sack being dragged behind them.

"Luffy," Usopp cheered happy to see that the rubber man was alright.

"NAMI-SWAN! CONIS-CHWAN!" Sanji shouted happily at the sight of the two girls.

He then noticed that Nami had a jumper on.

"Oh…she's got a top on," Sanji said sadly.

"ARE YOU STILL GOING ON ABOUT THAT?!" Usopp yelled.

The three stopped in front of the group of pirates.

"What's in the bag?" Robin asked.

"Food and Alcohol," Conis answered.

"Where did you get it all?" Zoro asked eagerly.

"We found the priests food storage, it was filled with food and drink," Nami claimed.

"Hey how did you get down from above the beanstalk?" Usopp asked.

"We jumped," Luffy claimed.

"You jumped…from a cloud?" Zoro asked.

"Yep," Luffy smiled.

"How are you both still alive?" Usopp asked.

"Easy, Gum-Gum Fusaon," Luffy said.

"I don't care how Nami-swan got down, it's like she is an angel descending form heaven itself," Sanji said with hearts in his eyes.

"More like a fallen angel," Zoro snorted.

"Eh…what was that moss head," Sanji asked.

"I said if Nami was an angel she would be a fallen one," Zoro repeated.

"Are you comparing Nami-swan to the devil?" Sanji asked dangerously.

"Given the fact that she's evil I'd say I'm right," Zoro shot back.

"I'm surprised you know what accurate means," Sanji said.

"Oh you're so dead Cook," Zoro cried and drew his swards.

"Bring it on Moss head," Sanji shot back.

And thus another fight broke out between the two pirates, Luffy laughed at them while the rest of the crew just sighed and shook their heads. Chopper however was trying to get them to stop.

"STOP FIGHTING…I JUST FINSHIND FIXING YOU UP!" Chopper yelled.

The fight continued and once it was over the Straw Hats started to devour the food that Nami and Luffy had brought. Conis went over to where her people were and looked around; she was very surprised to find her father amongst the survivors.

Apparently the solider who they had tried to help had pushed Papyaga into the White Sea just in time and he had fallen through to the lower parts of the White Sea, and one of the evacuation boats had picked him up.

Conis was glad that her father had survived Enel's Judgment. As the day wound to a close the three groups kept to themselves, the Shandorans were weary of the Angel Islanders and the refugees were afraid of the Shandorans and neither group wanted to be near the Straw Hats.

Since they had taken down Enel they did not want to start a fight with the Blue Sea Warriors. The Straw Hats however just continued to eat the food and despite the tense atmosphere. It was early evening by the time they had finished eating and all of the Straw Hats were full and sitting around the now empty sack.

"Ahhh….that was so good," Luffy said happily.

"Yeah I'm stuffed," Usopp agreed.

"I could have gone for another drink or two," Zoro commented.

"I just can't wait to get back the ship," Nami said.

Luffy looked at her in confusion.

"Huh…what are you talking about?" Luffy asked.

"What do mean, it's been a long day. Once I'm back at the ship I can have a bath and sleep in my own bed," Nami claimed

Luffy frowned.

"Usopp do you here this?" Luffy asked disappointed.

"Yeah, she's a failure," Usopp agreed.

"A failure as both a person and a pirate," Luffy stated.

Nami looked at them confused.

"What are you two going on about?" Nami asked.

"We have to fix this rift between the Shandorans and the Angel Islanders," Usopp claimed.

"Yeah," Luffy agreed.

"Since when do you care about politics?" Nami asked "and how are you going to fix 400yrs of fighting and war?"

Luffy and Usopp shook their heads; they could not believe Nami was asking these kinds of questions. Luffy stood up, he told Sanji to follow him and the cook did as he curious as to where they were going. Zoro then went over to the nearest tree and cut tome wood and piled it up in the main square with Usopp Robin and Chopper helping him.

Connor went over to where the Shandorans were staying and spoke to Aisa, the girls face lit up and she eagerly nodded in agreement. She ran off to tell her Chief and Connor then went over to Gan Fall and spoke to him.

"You want all the Angel islanders to participate in a peace talk?" Gan Fall asked in disbelief.

"Yep Luffy has away with words and isn't about time you started to try make up for what your kind did to there's?" Connor asked

"I can understand and I agree with you, but my attempts at peace have failed numerous times in the past," Gan Fall claimed.

"But that was when you were fighting. The war is over now right? The bell was rung," Connor pointed out.

"But all those centuries of fighting cannot be undone overnight," Gan Fall claimed.

"So take the first step, both sides have lost their homes and the only place to go is here…isn't this the perfect time to work out your differences?" Connor asked.

"Yes but…" Gan fall started.

"The Shandorans have agreed to participate…and it's only one night," Connor claimed "If this doesn't work you can go back to trying to kill each other in the morning,"

Gan Fall sighed, he suppose he could not argue with that logic and he could defiantly see the advantages of starting peace talks while Enel's defeat was fresh in everyones mind.

"Very well…we will come," Gan Fall agreed.

"All of you?" Connor asked.

"Yes…all of us," Gan Fall promised.

* * *

Wiper groaned as he slowly woke up, he was honestly surprised that he had survived as Enel had not only struck him with Lighting but he had also used his Reject diel three times in on day. Wiper took a moment to look around and he noticed that he was in a building and that the tribes Chief was sitting next to him.

"C…Chief?" Wiper asked.

"Wiper…it is good to see you awake," the Chief said.

Wiper tried to sit up but Conis suddenly appeared and stopped him.

"You mustn't move, your badly hurt," Conis claimed.

"You…you're from Angel Island," Wiper claimed and shot up.

He then noticed that Gan Fall was in the room too, this shocked him as both

"Chief what happened…have we been captured by the enemy?" Wiper panicked.

"Wiper calm down," Gan Fall advised.

Before Wiper could respond he suddenly heard a thumping sound that sounded like drums, he looked towards the source and found that there was a red glow outside the building.

"The village…is the village on fire…are those the drums of war?" Wiper asked.

"Wiper calm yourself, take a closer look," The Chief advised "I think you will find that war is the last thing on anyone's mind,"

Wiper slowly walked out of the building to see something that he never would have thought possible, in front of him was a massive celebration. Both Shandorans and Angel Islanders alike were dancing around a huge bon fire, the Shandorans were providing music on their drums, both tribes were dancing.

The Shandorans were teaching some traditional tribal dances to the Angel Islanders and the Angel Islanders were teaching the Shandorans some more modern dancing. Wiper also spied the Straw Hats were involved in the party as well.

Kamiki and Gunbll were in a drinking contest with Zoro, Aisa and Connor were seen playing and dancing with all the children of both tribes, Sanji was cooking and giving out food to everyone and Luffy, Chopper and Usopp were just having fun. It was clear that everyone was enjoying themselves.

But the main thing was everyone had a smile on their face and was laughing.

"How…I…I don't understand," Wiper stuttered.

"It's a funny thing, we were both told that the leader of the Blue Sea Dwellers was planning a peace talk to help bridge the rift between our people," the Chief started "and we all had to attend,"

"Turns out that peace talk was a massive party, while everyone was sceptical at first…once it got going we found there was no need for words," Gan Fall claimed.

"But…what about our homeland," Wiper said "With Enel gone we will have to fight to keep you off Upper Yard?"

"Gan Fall and I will discuss that tomorrow, we will work something out," the Chief assured "For now let's just enjoy ourselves,"

"But…there our enemies," Wiper claimed

Laki came up to Wiper before either Gan Fall or the Chief could respond.

"There you are, come and dance with me," Laki said.

Wiper was going to protest but Laki grabbed his arm and dragged him into the party, despite Wipers protest it was not long before he got caught up in the celebration and was dancing and lagging with the others.

Gan Fall and the Chief sat on the side watching the party in satisfaction, they were both too old to be joining in but the atmosphere and what this party meant for both these people was not lost on them.

"Who would have thought that our war would end like this," The Chief said. "Looking back now…it does seem pointless," The Chief agreed.

"Yes, we should have known that that Verth was for everyone and not something to be fought over. For all the pain my people and my predecessors have caused your tribe I apologies for it,"

"Thank you and I know you mean it sincerely," The Chief claimed.

They sat there watching the party together.

"Still…a mass celebration to unite our people, I never would have thought of that," The Chief said.

"Indeed…had I known that this was all it took to bring us together I would have thrown one years ago," Gan Fall claimed.

"It is unconventional….the Blue Sea Dwellers have strange and mysterious ways," the Chief agreed.

"I spent some time with them and I didn't understand them at all…I doubt I ever will," Gan Fall finished.

* * *

The next morning the rift between both the Shandorans and the Angel Islanders was nowhere to be seen, both people worked together to find and retrieve the Golden bell. It was hard and it took a lot of man power but in the end the bell was brought up onto Upper yard.

Usopp spoke to some of the Angel islanders and traded some rubber bands for several different types of Diels, he claimed that the rubber bands were what defeated Enel and the islanders were eager to get their hands on the mysterious substance.

Luffy, Sanji, Chopper went into the giant Pythons stomach and retrieved all the gold that the snake had eaten, by the time they cleaned the snakes belly out they had five sacks filled with gold and were very happy with their hoard. Nami and Conis went back to the Merry to prepare the ship to set sail.

Zoro and Connor had a sword lesson and Zoro decided that he would need to start being tougher on Connor with his training as it was becoming very clear to him that he could no longer take it easy on the boy as the opponents they were facing were getting far stronger and Connor would need to be able to keep up.

Zoro was currently trying to teach Connor to make his strikes cut without actually touching anything. He brought his sword down on a thick block of solid rock and the sword stopped inches above the rock, despite Zoro not hitting the block of solid stone itself it still cut perfectly in two like it had had been sliced with his sword.

"Alright, now you try," Zoro said to Connor.

Connor nodded and copied Zoro's actions however his rock did not break. Connor inspected his block and frowned.

"It didn't work," Connor claimed.

"Try again," Zoro instructed.

Connor tired again but the result was the same.

Meanwhile Robin however went to go see the golden bell as she was still interested in seeing if the strange stone that no one could read that was described in Nolands that was supposedly on the belfry.

She found the Bell being admired by both the Shandorans and the Angel Islanders who were having their first look at gold.

"Wow…it's incredible," one Shandoran said in awe.

"So this is gold…it's so…so…beautiful," An Angel Islander claimed.

"Amazing, who would have thought that after all these years we would see the golden bell," the Chief said.

"Hey Chief…what's that big blue stone?" a Shandoran asked and pointed to the Poneglyph at the base of the belfry.

"Is that the Poneglyph …the stone our ancestors gave their lives to protect?" another asked "What does it say?"

"It is and something best left forgotten," The Chief claimed.

"Keep thy motives in heart with closed mouth. We are those who will weave history, with the ringing of the great bell," Robin said as she walked through the crowed and approached the bell.

The Chief stared at her in shock.

"How…How do you know those words?" the Chief asked.

"They were written on the ruins of Shandora," Robin answered as she stopped in front of the Poneglyph and stared at it.

"Wait…you…you can read the ancient language?" the Chief gasped.

Robin didn't respond she just kept staring at the large blue stone and read it. After a few minutes she turned away and walked back towards the crowed.

"Another dead end...this was not what I wanted to know," Robin sighed.

"You read it…what does it say?" The Chief asked.

Robin stopped and looked at the Chief

"It tells of an ancient weapon known as Poseidon and its location," Robin said.

"A…A weapon?" Chief asked "Why would it say something like that?"

"Don't worry it's not here in the sky, the location is in the Blue Sea," Robin assured.

"That's a relief," the Chief claimed.

Robin started to walk off when a Shandoran got her attention.

"Miss before you go…is that writing part of the stone too?" the Shandoran asked and pointed back to the belfry.

Robin turned around and looked where the man was pointing, her eyes widened. There carved into the side of belfry was a few lines written in the ancient langue.

Robin instantly read it.

"I have come here will take what's written here and lead it to the end of the world, Gold Rodger," Robin read.

"What's that mean?" the warrior asked.

Robin however was too shocked to answer, she was trying to figure out the meaning of the message. Several questions went through her mind, Did the former irate king come to the sky? How did he make it to the bell? Why did he not ring it? How was he able to leave a message in the ancient and forbidden text?

"What does this mean?" Robin whispered.

She read the message again trying to find the answer.

'Lead…not carry or take…Lead…Lead…' Robin thought, suddenly it hit her.

'Wait…could it be…the Rio Poneglyph?' Robin realised.

"Miss…are you alright?" the Chief asked.

"Yes," Robin answered, she then turned to look at the Chief.

"This Poneglyph has already filled it's purpose," Robin claimed.

"It's…purposes?" the Chief asked confused.

"Yes, there are many Poneglyph scattered throughout the world, they either contain information or locations to other Poneglyphs. This one contains information," Robin claimed.

"But what about the writing next to it?" the Chief asked.

"That is a message from a famous man in the blue sea, it says he lead this passage to the end of the world," Robin claimed.

The Chief and the Shandorans looked at Robin confused.

"Think of the Poneglyph like pages, this stone is a single page in a larger book," Robin tired, taking a different approach.

"So if you read all the Poneglyph then the book is complete," the Chief said in understanding.

"Yes the connected text must form the non-existent Rio Poneglyph, it tells the history of the void century," Robin explained.

"And the message?" the Chief asked.

"The message is instructions what to do with the Poneglyphs, I believe Gold Rodger came here and he took what was written her along with any other Poneglyphs he may have found and lead them to the end of the world where he learned the true history of the world," Robin explained.

"So…that means…our duty is done," the Chief said "we no longer have to fight"

"Fight? Are you talking about the war?" Robin asked.

The Chief shook his head.

"No, our tribe was tasked with guarding this ancient stone, until someone could take the knowledge that they possess and reveal the truth," the Chief claimed "I never understood what the meant until now,"

"I see…well judging by what's written here I can defiantly say that Gold Rodger has certainty done that, he is the only person in history to reach the end of the world," Robin claimed.

"Miss…thank you for coming here," the Chief said gratefully.

"So if your duty has been completed, will you live in peace with the Sky Islanders?" Robin asked.

"Yes, they can share our land," the Chief said.

Robin smiled.

"Now we must find a way to thank you and the other Blue Sea Dwellers….you came here looking for gold right?" the Chief asked.

"That was our intent yes," Robin answered.

"Well we can't give you the bell, but one of the supports broke off while we were retrieving it. You can have that if you like," the Chief offered.

He pointed to a massive gold column that was the size and width of a large cannon, Robin could tell that it would be worth millions in back in the grand line.

"I think that will do nicely," she said with a smile.

* * *

 _Lost City of Shandora_

The Straw Hats were waiting patiently for Robin to return, they had all there gold sacks full and were ready to make a quick getaway before the Shandorans came back and realised that they were in fact robbing them.

"What's taking Robin so long?" Luffy whined.

"Let's just go back to the ship without her," Zoro said.

"We can't leave without Robin-Chawn Idiot," Sanji claimed.

"Idiot," Usopp said.

"Idiot," Chopper repeated.

"Big Idiot," Luffy agreed.

This started a fight between the four men and Connor wisely stayed out of it; it still shocked him how prone to violence this crew was. Connor turned to look and saw Robin walking towards them with the Shandorans and Angel Islanders carrying something long and wrapped up in a tarp.

"Hey…here she comes now," Connor pointed out.

The fight stopped and Luffy spied Robin.

"HEY ROBIN, HURRY UP WE'VE STOLEN ALL THERE GOLD!" Luffy shouted at the top of his lungs.

"DON'T TELL THEM THAT!" Sanji and Usopp yelled.

"Hey…what's that they've got there with them?" Chopper asked.

Usopp took one look at the long cylindrical object and freaked out.

"IT'S A GAINT CANNON! THERE GOING TO ATTACK US FOR STEALING THERE GOLD!" Usopp screamed.

"I'm sure that's not…" Sanji started.

"OH CRAP THERE ON TO US!" Luffy cried "RRUUNNNNNN!"

Luffy, Usopp and Chopper instantly took off running, Zoro and Connor followed as well. Sani merely sighed and then ran after the crew. Robin and the crowed were perplexed at why the pirates were running away from them.

"Hey why are they running?" a Shandoran warrior asked "Don't they want this gold pillar?"

Robin however started to laugh.

"I guess not, why don't you hold on to it for us," Robin said with a smile before she too started to run off to catch up with the crew.

The Shandorana and Angel Islanders were very confused. They stared at the fleeing Straw Hats after a few minutes Wiper came up to the group.

"Why are the blue sea dwellers running like Enel is chasing them?" Wiper asked.

"Oh there leaving," Gan Fall claimed "By the way Wiper, it's been decided that I take up my old position as God and I will need to reform my enforcers,"

"Yay," Wiper said sarcastically.

"Indeed, some of the Shandorans have already volunteered, however I will need a new captain and I was wondering if you would like the job," Gan Fall offered.

Wiper stared at the old knight in complete shock.

"Y…You want me to lead your army?" Wiper asked.

"Yes, that is if you have no issues with working with me," Gan Fall said.

"None what so ever, it just means I'm closer to you and can kill you if you turn out to be another Enel," Wiper smirked.

"I hope it does not come to that…but I wouldn't have it any other way," Gan Fall claimed.

* * *

 _Going Merry_

The crew had made it back to the ship and had set off the moment everyone was on board, Usopp was screaming about the giant cannon that was chasing them so Nami hadn't wasted any time in getting away. Conis and Papaya followed them on their small waver boat and led them to Clouds End, where they could get back down to the blue sea.

As they approached the gate Conis and Papaya disembarked and ran alongside of the ship shouting their goodbyes as they could go no further on the waver.

"Everyone, thank you for what you've done here," Conis said gratefully "we owe you so much,"

"No problem, it was fun," Luffy said with a smile.

"Feel free to come back and visit anytime, you will always be welcome," Papaya said.

"We will," Nami responded.

"You're nearing Cloud's End, you might want to brace yourself." Conis shouted as the ship passed through the gate.

"What does she mean by that?" Connor asked in concern.

"It's probably just a steep cloud road. Like the ones in upper yard," Nami theorised.

"NO IT ISN'T!" Usopp screamed.

Nami's attention was turned back to the front of the ship by Usopp's panicked tone; she wondered what had scared the sniper this time. It was immediately apparent why he yelled, there was no road in front of the ship, no gradual decline through the clouds, there was just open sky and a 10,000 meter drop.

And they were sailing straight for it.

The sound that followed was utterly deafening as every single member of the Straw Hats, even Luffy, screamed out in terror as the ship went over the edge of the clouds and fell straight down.

"WE'RE FALLING? WHY ARE WE FALLING? WE'RE GOING TO DIEEEEEE!" Nami screamed.

Her screaming was the second loudest and only beaten by Usopp as she clamped her arms around the only lifeline in reach, which happened to be Zoro's neck, unwittingly suffocating the unfortunate swordsman.

As the ship fell a whistle sound was barely herd and from the cloud layer that they were now falling parallel to, a shadow leapt out, a shadow which turned out to be the largest octopus that any member of the crew had ever seen, the creature latched itself to the top of the ship, and incredibly, slowed its descent.

The Crew slammed on the deck in having being caught from the free fall by the ship and stared at the octopus in surprise.

"It's like a hot-air balloon" Robin stated.

"Does this mean were not going to die?" Chopper asked tearfully.

"Seems that way," Nami replied. "I guess we're just going to drift down,"

"And how long will that take?" Zoro asked as he struggled to get Usopp off him.

"It's 10,000 metres to fall, so probably a few hours at least," Nami said "Maybe even the whole day,"

"We're so high," Chopper said as he looked over the railing.

"Yeah, I bet we could flay all the way to Raftel from here," Usopp said.

"Really?" Chopper asked exaltedly.

"Not possible," Robin claimed "We still have over half the Grand Line to go,"

"Aww…." Chopper whined disappointingly.

"You don't have to ruin everything you know," Usopp muttered.

As the octopus slowly lowered the Merry back down to the Blue Sea the Straw Hats did various activities around the ship. It was only when Sanji came out with some drinks and snacks for everyone did the cook notice that the crews hyperactive rubber captain was missing.

"Hey…where's Luffy?" Sanji asked.

The crew looked up and down the deck but Luffy was nowhere to be seen.

"He's gone….where did he go?" Chopper asked.

Perhaps he fell over bard and plummeted to his death," Robin suggested.

"STOP SAYING SUCH THINGS!" Usopp yelled.

"LUFFY FELL TOO HIS DEATH!" Chopper panicked.

"Calm down she's only joking," Zoro said.

"Thank goodness," Chopper breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yeah if that was the case we would have herd him scream," Connor added.

"WHAT?!" Chopper screamed.

"YOU'RE NOT HELPING!" Usopp shouted.

Connor merely laughed at the two for their reactions.

"I don't know what you're worried about," Zoro said "We're close to 10,000 feet in the air, how much trouble could he get into?"

"Zoro its Luffy," Nami stated.

"Oh…right…better find him before he does something that will kill all of us," Zoro agreed.

"Oi…Usopp you've got to try this," Luffy's voice called out.

The crew looked around for the source of the voice but could not find it, Luffy called out a gain and it was coming from above the ship. The crew ran over to the side of the ship and looked up; it did not take long for them to figure out what had happened to their captain.

"What is he doing up there?" Nami panicked "Doesn't he know our lives depend on that balloon,"

"He dose but he most likely doesn't care," Zoro claimed.

"I'll go get him," Sanji sighed.

Sanji climbed up the one of the octopus's tentacles and onto the top of its inflated head to see Luffy jumping up and down on the octopus like a giant trampoline; if Sanji had been with serving the rubber captain for a while now but his stupidity still surprised him.

"Luffy stop that and come back down to the ship," Sanji ordered.

Luffy looked over to the cook.

"Hi Sanji, you have to try this. It's fun," Luffy said with a huge grin.

"This is serious Luffy, if that thing pops we're all dead," Sanji scolded.

Luffy looked at Sanji confused and he landed incorrectly, he rolled towards Sanji knocking the cook off balance and they both plummeted towards the ground.

"What do you know…I was right," Robin said as Luffy fell past the crew.

Fortunately Luffy was able to grab onto the ships railing with his rubber powers and his arm acted like a bungee cord as both him and Sanji were bounced up and down before being pulled back onto the ship.

"That was fun, let's do it again," Luffy cheered.

"NO!" Sanji screamed "I'LL KICK YOUR ASS FOR THAT!"

However before Sanji could do anything the Octopus that was slowing there decent suddenly deflated from all of Luffy's bouncing and the Merry once again permitted towards the Sea below.

Thinking quickly Usopp used his grappling hook to swing under the ship and attached all the Wind Dials he had got from the Sky Islanders to the ship's hull and their decent slowed once again. It did not last long as the octopus that had already lost most of its air deflated completely and the Merry continued it's free fall with it's very scared passengers.

The Merry crashed into the ocean with a loud splash and even though there decent was slowed by the Wind Diels it was a miracle that no one was killed and the ship remained intact. The octopus landed on Luffy face and he pulled it off him.

Once everyone had picked themselves up Luffy looked around.

"Well I think we're back in our own sea," Luffy said.

"The logs set and is pointing to the west," Nami declared "we probably got thrown off course in the fall,"

"So…where are we exactly?" Luffy asked.

Suddenly a flash light hit the ship and a loud alarm was sounded, the crew looked surprised as more flashlights covered the small ship. Running boots could be herd and a few Marine Ships came out of the darkness and headed towards them.

Once there eyes had adjusted to the light it was clear where the Merry had landed.

They had landed right in the middle of a Marine Base.


	52. G8 Pt1

_**A.N Hey guys sorry about the long wait for this chapter, I have been extremely busy with my end of year assignments and unfortunately I am not going to be posting anything for the next month.**_

 _ **My final exams are fast approaching and they are sadly going to last all November and regretfully I will not be posting any new Chapters until they are over. I apologise about this but I will be studying like crazy and will not have time to write.**_

 _ **As always please review**_

* * *

Vice Admiral Jonathan sat at his desk; it had been another quiet and peaceful night at the Marine fortress of G-8, code named: Navarone. He had been out doing some night time fishing as was his usual routine and like usual he did not expect to catch anything. However while he was fishing something very unexpected happened.

A ship fell from the sky and crashed into the lake.

At the time Jonathan could not believe it, not only had a ship fell from the sky but it turned out to be a pirate ship as well. Naturally the marine base had instantly sounded the alarms and the base suddenly went from quiet and peaceful to high alert.

Jonathan had retoured to his office and was now awaiting a report from his second in command Lieutenant Drake. While the other Marines secured and guarded the ship he had asked Drake to find and talk to any witnesses.

While he was waiting Jonathan set up a chess board and placed the black King in in the centre of the board, he then looked at the other white pieces wondering witch pieces to place. Deciding to wait for more information first Jonathan pulled out a letter he had received a few days ago from Marine Hq.

The envelope had opened already as he had already but he read it again, Jonathan focused on a date written on the letter and then looked at the calendrer on the wall. He put the letter down and leaned back in his chair thinking hard.

"They'll arrive tomorrow; this ship could cause trouble….or perhaps we could use this to our advantage…" Jonathan thought.

Suddenly a knock on the door brought Jonathan out of his thoughts; he glanced over to the door.

"Come in," Jonathan said.

A Marine Lieutenant walked in, he was a man of average height with He has brown hair with mutton chop sideburns. He wears a marine cap with an overcoat draped over his shoulders, over a blue suit. His coat had gold shoulder pads with matching tassels hanging down to signify his rank.

"Ah Drake, good timing have you spoken to the witnesses?" Jonathan asked.

Drake nodded.

"I have, though they have some odd things to say," Drake said as he came over.

Once he was in front of the desk he noticed the Chess board and the letter from Marine Hq.

"What's that…a letter from headquarters?" Drake asked.

"Hmm…oh it's nothing important, just a letter from Admiral Suziki," Jonathan claimed as he put the letter in his desk draw.

"Ah, how is your mentor doing lately?" Drake asked.

"Oh you know Suziki, he's always grouchy or complaining about something," Jonathan joked light heartedly "Tell me what did the witness say?"

"Right one said that they saw a big hairy man, another said that they saw many arms and legs sprout form the side of the ship," Drake reported.

"Oh…were they nice looking legs?" Jonathan asked interested.

"Commander please remember that you're married," Drake scolded.

"Joking, I'm joking," Jonathan said "But please don't tell my wife I said that. Anything else?"

"Well there were also reports of strange and unusual noises along that sounded like and I quote. A scream of a banshee and the moan of the dead rising," Drake said.

"A banshee you say?" Jonathan asked "that seems odd,"

"Yes, personally I think it's all poppycock, but the general conciseness amongst the men is that the ship is a ghost ship," Drake said "but one thing is consistent across all stories, it's that the ship fell from the sky,"

"Well then I suppose we have no choice," Jonathan said and stood up "Let's go investigate the ghost ship,"

Jonathan and Drake walked out of Jonathans office and headed down to the docks where there was a row boat waiting for him, he got in with Drake and a Marine rowed them out to the ship that had landed. When they

"Well I think this dashes the ghost ship theory," Jonathan claimed.

"Sir?" Drake asked.

"You can't touch ghost ships," Jonathan joked.

Drake rolled his eyes. They boarded the ship and found several Marines investigating the ship, some were taking phots outers were making notes and a few were cauterising and taking inventory of everything on board.

Jonathan looked around the ship thougholay, he did not entirely believe the whole ghost ship theory and he had his own suspicions. He looked in the kitchen and noticed that there was a teapot out with 7 cups on a tray. None of them had any liquored in it, the pot had some coffie in it that was still warm and there was some kind of biscuits out on the bench that

"Looks like they just dropped everything and left," Jonathan muttered.

"Sir?" Drake asked.

"Oh sorry just talking to myself," Jonathan smiled.

He picked a cup and poured himself lf a bit of coffee and picked up a biscuit and offered it to Drake.

"Want one?" Jonathan offered.

"No thank you," Drake responded.

"Your loss," Jonathan shrugged and he ate the biscuit and drank the coffee.

"Hmm….this is pretty good," he said happily.

"Sir that is evidence, you can't go eating evidence," Drake scolded.

"Oh lighten up there's plenty of biscuits and it would be a shame to let them go to waste," Jonathan added as he walked out of the kitchen.

"Sir look up there," Drake said and pointed to the mast.

"Hmm…" Jonathan said as he looked up.

Up on the mast were two birds one was a south bird and the other looked like a sea eagle.

"Oh a south bird," Jonathan stated.

"South bird?"

"Yes there birds who's heads always point south, they were used for navigating in ancient times. They naturally live on Jaya," Jonathan explained.

"Really? But why do they always point south?" Drake asked.

"No one knows it's just how they evolved," Jonathan claimed "there rather silly and stupid birds,"

The bird seemed to take offence to this and it instantly flew down and attacked the vice admiral, Jonathan tried to shoo it away and but the bird was stubborn but it finally flew off leaving the vice admiral in with quite a few scratches.

"I didn't know they were so vicious," Jonathan said once the bird was gone.

Jonathan walked over to one of the Marines who was taking inventory of the ship.

"You there report," Jonathan ordered.

"Sir," the Marine said snapping to attention "we are still cataloguing and gathering evidence, I believe we are half way done,"

"Good work, have you found anything interesting?" Jonathan asked.

"Interesting?" the marine asked.

"Yes things that would be out of place on a pirate ship," Jonathan clarified.

"Well there were one or two items that did seem odd," the Marine agreed.

"Oh like what?" Jonathan asked.

"Well we found a lot of gold…sacks full of it in fact," the marine said.

"Gold?" Drake asked interested.

"Yes but it looks old and I mean ancient old. It's not in coins or anything its moulded into statues and other ornaments," the Marine reported.

"Really? I would like to see this gold," Jonathan said "where is it?"

"Everything we're collecting is being taken to the base by the Endeavour,"

"Hmm….put it all back," Jonathan ordered.

"Sir?"

"We don't need everyday things cluttering up our base, take only what seems out of place and bring it to me in my office once you've finished cataloguing everything. Leave the rest," Jonathan ordered.

"Yes sir," the Marine responded.

"Come on Drake let's go back," Jonathan said as he headed back towards the rowboat.

Drake followed and once they got back to the base Jonathan called the captains of the various divisions to his office to give them his orders. Once they were there he began.

"So let's go over what we know," Jonathan said.

"A ship fell from the sky, we have reports of hairy men, limbs sprouting and the dead moaning giving the impression of a ghost ship," Jonathan started.

"That of course is preposterous," Drake claimed.

"Oh indeed, however we do have a ship that we can touch and it did fall from the sky," Jonathan said "but it is not a ghost ship. It's just a regular old pirate ship,"

"But which crew would dare invade Navaore?" one of the captains asked.

"That is a good question, once the ship gets hauled into the docks in the morning I would like you to find out," Jonathan ordered.

The captain nodded.

"Now moving on, we can safely say that there are at least seven people who were on that ship," Jonathan continued.

"How can you be sure?" Drake asked.

"That ship was well stocked with food and other supplies; the food was all fresh so it stands to reason that the ship's crew was on board at the time it landed. As for the number there were seven cups on that tray," Jonathan explained "we also know that the ship must have been in Jaya recently,"

"Jaya?" Drake asked "that's a fair way away,"

"Indeed, but the coffee in that pot is a blend made in Jaya and the south birds can only be found there," Jonathan explained.

"What about the odd things the men found?" one of the captains asked.

"Ah yes the gold, well that is easily explainable. It's not uncommon for pirates to have treasure on their ship and there is a certain legend on Jaya about a lost city of gold…maybe they found it," Jonathan claimed.

"Was anything else round that seemed out of place?" Drake asked.

"Yes, we found a collection of books, mostly history, medical and a few cook books," the captain responded.

"Well that's not that out of the ordinary, every ship should have some books on medicine and cooking, plus a general knowledge of islands in the grand line," Drake said.

"I know but we also found some children's books on board too," the captain said.

"Oh, what kind? Novels, fantasy stories…comics?" Jonathan asked interested.

"No they were early learning books…like ABC's and basic writing and maths. There was even paint by numbers book and a chalk board. They look brand new too, not even opened," the captain claimed.

"That is odd; do you think these pirates have a child with them? Perhaps they kidnapped one and are use the child as a hostage," Drake suggested.

"I think it is more likely that one of them bought those as gifts for someone…maybe a family member or relative," Jonathan reasoned "unless you found any other evidence that there is a child on board,"

"None, just the books and the chalkboard," the captain responded.

"In that case we can rule a child out," Jonathan said.

"Sir let me take my unit and search the base, I can have the pirates found in no time," Drake assured.

"No let's wait until morning," Jonathan said.

"Why we must act now or the pirates could get away," Drake argued.

"They won't," Jonathan assured.

"How do you know?"

"Try to see this situation from their point of view, these pirates find themselves in an enclosed Marine base with their ship surrounded by marine battle ships, so they leave to hide in the base to avoid capture. Now what would be the best way to hide?" Jonathan asked.

"Umm…." Drake responded, trying to think of a way to avoid capture in a highly defensible marine base.

"Drake we have a lot of recruits here, so seeing a few new faces would not be that out of the ordinary. These priests could easily steal some Marine uniforms and blend in with the rest of us," Jonathan said.

"This way the chance of being detected is a lot lower, however…that would also put us them at a disadvantage," Jonathan claimed.

"How so?" one of the captains asked.

"It is not uncommon for new recuts to get lost here, if any of find someone wandering around in a marine uniform ask them what unit number they are part of and then tell them the wrong unit. If they correct you than they are real marines…but if they get it wrong…pirate," Jonathan explained.

"I see…and with so many marines around picking out the odd ones will be easier," Drake said.

"Exactly. So for now we shall wait until morning. Tomorrow double the patrols and have the patrols in pairs…also tell all squad elders that if any marine is seen acting even the slightest bit suspicious they are to report it immediately to the nearest senior officer," Jonathan ordered.

"Focus the patrols on inside the base as well especially around the mess hall. Pirates are notorious for being hungry and eating a lot," Jonathan added.

"Sir yes sir," the other marine captains and Drake responded.

Once the meeting was over Jonathan dismissed the others and he focused on his chess board in front of him.

"Let's see…seven pirates…we need a captain and a first mate," Jonathan said and placed a black king and queen on the board.

"We also need a doctor and most likely a navigator," Jonathan mused and put a bishop and a rook down.

"And a cook," He added and put a knight down as well

"I suppose the rest can be considered pawns," Jonathan said and placed two more pawns on the board.

Jonathan leaned back in his chair and looked at the board thoughtfully, he had placed the pieces so the white king was surrounded, he stared at the board contemplating on everything that had happened. However one thing he could not figure out is why the pirates would come to Nevour, in fact why anyone would even bother with them.

They were a small out of the way marine base that barely saw any action, a lot of pirates ignored them and even the marine higher ups never came to visit. He stood up and walked over out onto his balcony and looked down over the pirate ship that was in the middle of the lake.

"We have nothing of value….What are you here for?" Jonathan asked himself.

He didn't get a response; he sighed and rubbed his head. He would not be figuring out anything tonight, he would just have to wait until one of the pirates got captured.

"So much for a peaceful night," Jonathan sighed.

* * *

The next morning Jonathan went about his usual routine, he got up, had a shower, got dressed, ate breakfast with his wife before heading to his office to read the new reports and speak to Drake about the day and any issues that needed to be addressed.

Since there was a pirates had invaded the base most of the usual reports were put on hold so Jonathan could focus on the situation at hand. He watched from his balcony as the ship that had fallen from the sky was towed off to the dock to be looked at by the bases shipwrights.

As he was watching the door to Jonathan's office opened and Drake walked in. He walked over to the marines Vice Admiral.

"Sorry I'm late sir, I was reminding the squad captains of the double patrols and to report any suspicious behaviour," Drake said.

"That's alright, this is an unusual situation after all…has there been any sightings of our pirate gusts?" Jonathan asked.

"Not yet unfortunately," Drake responded.

"Hmm well it's still early morning I suppose, we'll just have to wait," Jonathan said causally.

"When they make their move we will catch them," Drake assured.

"We'll see," Jonathan said.

He turned and walked back to his desk and picked up a piece of paper and turned back to Drake.

"By the way we will be having a few extra gusts today," Jonathan said and handed the Lieutenant the paper.

Drake took it and read it over.

"A special investigator…here?" Drake asked.

"Yes, apparently we are up for a review. Normally I would make preparations but we have a bit of a crisis on our hands so I think we can skip that part," Jonathan said "But I would like you to meet the investigator when they arrive and inform him of the situation,"

"Very well," Drake agreed "It says here that two chefs will be accompanying the investigator,"

"Yes apparently Marine Hq's famous chiefs are touring some bases and giving the chiefs some pointers in cooking. Personally I think there just showing off," Jonathan said.

"I bet Jessica is going to love that," Drake claimed.

"Indeed, she was not thrilled when I told her this morning," Jonathan said.

"Should I get the Harassment complaint forms ready again?" Drake asked.

"Oh I'm not worried, if there as good as they say they are then there won't be a problem if not….well Jessica will eat them alive," Jonathan grinned.

"But that is probably a good idea. Since there only here for as long as the investigator I doubt we will need the transfer request forms this time," He added quickly.

Drake nodded, he then made few calls to make sure that the complaint forms would be ready for the chefs arrival and that they would be easily accessed. The head chief Jessica was brutal when it came to cooking and every time when Navarone had new chefs there were always complaints about the head chief within the first ten minutes and several transfer requests in the first hour.

"So now that that is settled lets go fishing," Jonathan declared.

"Fishing sir…at a time like this?" Drake asked.

"Of course, how can I not go fishing when the catch is?" Jonathan asked.

Drake sighed and followed the vice admiral out of his office and down to the one of the docks where a small row boat was waiting for them. Once they were out on the lake Jonathan pulled out a spy glass and started looking around the cliff areas and trees for any sign of the pirates.

They weren't the only ones out on the lake as there were quite a few pastorals in small boats and one or two marine battle ships patrolling the perimeter. The other marines gave the commanders a wave or a salute as they passed them.

After a while Drake grew impatient and looked at his watch.

"Sir we've been out here for over two hours now, wouldn't it be more productive to search the base?" Drake asked.

"Perhaps but bad guys always return to the scene of the crime. I am quite confident we will find at least one pirate hanging around," Jonathan said.

"I sincerely doubt we will," Drake responded.

A few minutes later the two commanders herd something odd above them they looked up to see a green haired person not in Marine uniform hanging from a balcony trying to reach something in a bush just out of reach. Jonathan pointed his spyglass towards the man and saw that there were three swords in the bush.

"You were saying Drake?" Jonathan teased.

"What the hell is he doing?" Drake asked.

"I think he is hanging around…quite literally," Jonathan stated "call some of the other patrols,"

Drake did as he was told and soon the other patrol boats arrived, the marines were very confused as to what Zoro was doing. Jonathan started a small betting pool on how long the man would last until he let go.

After about three more minutes Zoro finally let go, however the swords he was reaching for fell down the cliff and he chased after them. The marines watched as the man ran down the cliff before tripping on a branch causing him to tumble and start a small rockslide.

The man eventually splashed into the sea and the rocks followed him.

"Well…there is something you don't see every day," Jonathan commented.

A few seconds later Zoro came back up to the surface and all the marines instantly pointed their guns at his head,

"Hello there, would you mind surrendering?" Jonathan asked.

Zoro glared at the vice admiral, he glanced around at the guns and the marines around him, he didn't see any way out that did not involve him being shot. Zoro sighed

"Sure," Zoro said and raised his hands.

Jonathan smiled.

"See Drake, and you say fishing is a waste of time," Jonathan smirked.

Drake just rolled his eyes.

The two commanders watched as Zoro was helped up onto one of the boats and taken away, several boats followed him just encase Zoro tried to escape.

"One down, six to go," Jonathan said.

* * *

 _ **A.N The chess pieces that Jonathan uses to represent the Straw Hats are:**_

 _ **Luffy – King**_

 _ **Zoro – Queen (jokes will be made)**_

 _ **Nami – Rook**_

 _ **Chopper -Bishop**_

 _ **Sanji – Knight (again jokes will be made)**_

 _ **Usopp – Pawn**_

 _ **Robin – Pawn**_

 _ **Connor – None (Jonathan doesn't know he is there)**_


	53. G8 Pt2

_**A.n I own Nothing**_

 _ **Please Review**_

* * *

Jonathan and Drake accompanied the Marines in escorting Zoro to the brig, Zoro did not resist in anyway in fact he was very cooperative. This made Jonathan curios and wondered why a pirate would be so cooperative with the Marines.

Despite this the successful capture of Zoro had finally provided the vice admiral with exactly which pirate crew that had invaded Navarone though why they chose to come was still a mystery to the bases commander.

"So we're dealing with the Straw Hats then," Jonathan said once Zoro was in his cell with his hands shackled behind his back.

"Yes and we can confirm that this man Roronoa Zoro of the Straw Hat Pirates," Drake confirmed.

"Hmm…the Straw Hats are the ones who caused an up roar in Alabasta right?" Jonathan asked.

"Yes, they kidnapped the princess Vivi, they were pursued by Captain Smoker and he discovered Crocodile's deception," Drake reported.

"Yes I remember reading that report…did the straw hats gain anything from that incident?" Jonathan asked.

"You mean apart from a higher bounty?" Drake asked.

"Yes apart form that,"

"Then no, Straw Hat Luffy's bounty went from 30 million to 100 million and Roronoa Zoro received a bounty of 60 million,"

"And the princess…she was returned home safely correct?" Jonathan asked.

"Yes, the royal family denied paying any ransom money though. The Straw Hats new bounty was for kidnapping the princess," Drake claimed.

"Hmm…" Jonathan said thoughtfully.

He pondered this information, when he had heard about the incident in Alabasta he felt something didn't add up. It was no secret that the Marines did not get involved in civil wars nor were they one to come to the aid of a country or kingdom that was currently in one. It was also no secret among the higher ups that Smoker hated Pirates and disposed the Shichibukai system so discovering that Crocodile was the cause of the civil war gave the captain the perfect opportunity to take out one of the Shichibukai.

However something didn't add up, the events that were reported didn't make sense to Jonathan at all. The only reason smoker had been on Alabasta in the first place was because he had been chasing Luffy and while there he conveniently discovers the truth behind a 3yr civil war that had not only been cleverly planned but also been covered up by an extremely powerful and ruthless pirate.

"Drake…get me all the information on the straw hats," Jonathan ordered.

"Very well, what will you do sir?" Drake asked.

"I am going to integrate the prisoner," Jonathan claimed "Come get me when you have the information,"

Drake nodded and left the brig to fill his orders, Jonathan walked up to the cell that Zoro was placed in and the Marines guarding him moved aside for the commander. Jonathan knelt down and

"So…your Roronoa Zoro right?" Jonathan asked.

"That's me," Zoro answered.

"You're not want I expected, I want to ask you a few things," Jonathan said.

"Hey it's your base," Zoro said.

"Right so first off…what's your position on the ship?" Jonathan asked.

"Huh…why do you want to know that?" Zoro asked.

"I like to play chess and I am currently in a game with your crew. I just want to know witch piece to take off the board," Jonathan claimed.

Zoro eyed the commander suspiciously; he could tell that this was a man not to be messed with. Zoro was concerned that he didn't ask about the other members of the crew but he didn't know where they were to begin with.

"I'm the first mate," Zoro finally said.

"Ah you're the Queen then," Jonathan said .

Zoro's eye twitched irritably at that.

"What?" he asked angrily "do I look like a girl?"

"Oh sorry I didn't mean to offend you," Jonathan said quickly "it's just that in chess the queen is the most powerful piece on the board. They defend the king at all cost, isn't that what a first mate dose for there captain,"

"That's true," Zoro said agreed.

"So if a crew was like a chess game...then the captain would be the king and the first mate would be the queen," Jonathan explained.

"I suppose," Zoro sighed.

"Right so how did you come here?" Jonathan asked getting back on track.

"We came from the sky," Zoro answered.

"Yes I know that but how did you get in the sky in the first place?" Jonathan asked "we're you launched from somewhere? If so where is the launch pad?"

"We didn't do anything like that," Zoro said.

"Oh then how did you get here?" Jonathan asked.

"You won't believe me," Zoro claimed.

"Try me," Jonathan challenged.

"Okay but don't say I didn't warn you…first we rode a sea current that blew our ship over 10,000 meters into the air, then we sailed thorough heaven's gate and onto a sea of clouds. There we met some angels and fought with god, after we beat him up we had a party with the angels, a tribe of Guerrilla's and the new god who was actually the old one before floating back down to earth with the aid of a giant red octopus," Zoro explained.

Jonathan started at Zoro in disbelief, he blinked a couple of times he then turned and looked over his shoulder at one of the Marines standing there who had similar expressions on there faces.

"Has this man been tested for illegal substances or hallucinogens?" Jonathan asked pointing at Zoro.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!" Zoro yelled angrily.

"No sir, he was brought straight to the brig," the Marine answered.

"Better get one of the nurses to come down and take a sample," Jonathan said "we'll have it analysed later,"

"Yes sir," the Marine responded and ran off.

"HEY GET BACK HERE!" Zoro cried out.

"Now now take it easy, tell me do you did you eat or inhale any strange plants or substances before sailing through heaven?" Jonathan asked.

Zoro thought about it for a moment but he could not think of anything out of the ordinary expect the food on Sky Island.

"Well there was that one weird pumpkin that you stick a straw in from the bottom to suck out it's juice," Zoro said "and that flat fish,"

"Did any of the other crew have some?" Jonathan asked.

"Yeah we all had some," Zoro remembered.

"And was this fish cooked properly?" Jonathan asked.

"Of course, it was cooked using a Flame Dial," Zoro claimed.

"What is a Flame Diel?" Jonathan asked curiously.

"It's a sea shell that spits out fire," Zoro said like it was obvious.

Again Jonathan stared at him for a few seconds; the marines behind him also stared at the captured pirate. The vice Admiral stood up.

"Right…I am going to have some lunch. Once those nurses come down have them analyse the sample immediately and call me when he comes down," Jonathan ordered.

"I AM NOT ON DRUGS!" Zoro yelled.

"No no of course you're not, now if your highness will excuse me I am needed elsewhere," Jonathan said and walked off.

"AND I AM NOT A GIRL!" Zoro yelled after the commander.

Jonathan sighed as he walked out of the brig; he had hoped to gain some more information on why the straw hats chose to come here and what they wanted. However his main source of information was a drugged crazed pirate swordsman.

"Oh well…I'll guess I'll just wait until we capture another crew member or he comes down from whatever he's on," Jonathan said to himself.

Jonathan went back to his office for a bit as it was too early for lunch he went over to the chess board and took the black queen off the board. He sat at his desk wondering where the rest of the straw hat crew were hiding.

He looked through the top of his papers on his desk but did not find any new reports on any suspicious activities from the squads. Jonathan knew it was only a matter of time before the other pirates made themselves known, especially now that he had one prisoner.

After about an hour of doing some routine paperwork Jonathan decided it was time for lunch, he stood up and walked out of his office towards the kitchen. As he walked through the base on the way to the kitchen he passed a group of Marines who were talking about the new cooks. This peaked Jonathans interest.

'New cooks….that's right there were supposed to be cooks coming from Hq today….i did not riles they were here already,' Jonathan thought.

Jonathan walked up to the two Marines, they noticed him and instantly saluted there commanding officer.

"Oh commander, how may we assist you sir?" one of the Marines asked.

"Ah forgive me but I could not help overhear you talking about some new cooks," Jonathan said.

"Oh yeah there's some new big fancy cooks from Hq, they got into a cook off with Jessica," the Marine claimed.

"Oh…are they still alive?" Jonathan asked.

"Ha ha, funny commander," the second Marine laughed.

"There fine, they won the cook off and I have to tell you there food is amazing," the first Marine said.

"Really, you've tried some?" Jonathan asked.

"We were part of the Marines who were there for the cook off," The second Marine said "I'm really jealous that the top brass get to eat food like that every day,"

"I see….you don't happen to know when these cooks arrived do you?" Jonathan asked.

"Umm…probably on those wrecked ships," the first Marine answered.

"Wreaked ships?" Jonathan asked.

"Yeah, they were hit by a storm and only barely made it here," the first Marine said.

"I see….who gave permission to open the gate?"

"Lieutenant Drake did, they had a lot of injured Marines that needed medical attention," the first Marine claimed.

"When did this happen?" Jonathan asked.

"About an hour ago, were you not informed?"

'An hour ago I was dealing with the Pirate we captured,' Jonathan thought.

"No I was a detained with some other issue on the other side of the Base…where is Drake now?" Jonathan asked.

"He was going to speak with the captain of the ship that came in…I think he is still at the docks," the First Marine said.

"Hmm…very well I will let Drake handle this, besides all this talk about the new cooks has made me hungry," Jonathan said "Carry on,"

Jonathan walked off leaving the two Marines to their patrol.

"Two Cooks from Marine Hq are schualed to come today…none of us know what they look like and then two unedified cooks show up at the kitchens…the pirates have at least one cook on bard that much is certain…so it would be easy to blend in with the other chiefs," Jonathan summarised.

"So are the pirates dressed as cooks or are the cooks really cooks?" Jonathan asked himself.

Jonathan continued through the base and entered the mess hall, it was a large clean room filled with round tables. Each table had at least eight or ten chairs around them, there was also a viewing window so people could see into the kitchen and watch the cooks work.

Jon he walked over to the window and peaked inside, he saw all the cooks at work and the food that had been prepared already plated and ready to serve for when the Hungary Maries came in. He eyed all the cooks he could see but he recognised all of them.

"Hmm…I can't see any unfamiliar faces," Jonathan muttered.

One of the cooks spotted him.

"Oi Jessica the Commander is here," the cook called out.

Jonathan sighed and went to a private dining room at the back of the mess hall and sat down and the table that was set up. A few moments later the Head Chief walked in, she was a young, beautiful, tall woman with blond hair and dark green eyes. She wore a typical Marine kitchen uniform with a chief's hat and a red neck scarf lossy tied around her neck.

She placed a plate of hot food in front of the commander; Jonathan looked at the food in disappointment.

"Umm…Jessica…this is the same dish you always make," Jonathan said.

"Is that a problem?" Jessica asked and leaned on the table.

"Well…it's just that I heard that the cooks from Hq had arrived and there food was amazing," Jonathan said "I wanted to try some,"

"But this dish was made personally for your loving and devoted wife, it's full of love and nutrients," Jessica claimed "you don't want what everybody else is eating,"

"But…I don't like carrots or broccoli…you know this," Jonatan whined as he poked the vegetables.

"Now Jonathan you know the rules, if you don't eat everything on your plate you won't get your special desert tonight," Jessica said playfully.

"R…Right," Jonathan said and quickly put a mouthful of vegetables in his mouth.

Jessica smiled and watched the commander eat once he was finished she took the plate away.

"I'll go get you some meatballs that the cook from Hq made," Jessica said and made.

"Cook…I thought there were two of them," Jonathan said suspiciously.

"There are but one is a taste tester apparently," Jessica said "he's done nothing but eat something off every plate we've made,"

Jonathan blinded and started at her in surprise.

"I did not know Marines hired people like that," Jonathan said.

"Me either, the recruitment standards must have dropped lately," Jessica said and left.

"Or the Cooks a hungry pirate," Jonathan finished.

Not long afterwards a young man with a huge grin entered and placed a plate of freshly made Meatballs in a thick sauce in front of him. Jonathon eyed the man suspiciously; he did not recognise him as one of the cooks stationed on Navore.

"Here you go," the man said with a big grin.

'Hmm…pirate or chief…hard to tell,' Jonathan thought.

The young man who had served him did not look old enough to be a Marine from Hq, and he certainly did not come across as one who would server the top brass. However the food in front of him told a different story, the way it was presented and how thick the sauce was told him that it had been made by a master of the culinary arts.

As much as he respected his wife and the cooks on the base none of them had ever prepared something like this before; so that meant that the person who made this dish was indeed a chief of great talent.

Jonathan looked up the man who delivered his food.

"Thank you, your dismissed," Jonathan said.

"Aye Aye sir," the man said enthusiastically and walked backwards towards the door.

Jonathan thought that this was a bit odd but then again he was not one to judge others based on minor personality quirks. He picked up his fork and used it to eat a meat ball, the moment he bit down on it he there was an explosion of flavour in his mouth and it was a sensation that he had never experienced before.

Truly this meal was made by a master chief and it was incredibly delicious.

"Hmm…Mmmm," Jonathan moaned as he savoured every bite. Once he swallowed his mouthful he picked up another meatball and ate that too.

"This is delicious…truly it is everything I have herd…perhaps I should go back to Hq more often," Jonathan said.

"Yeah this is delicious,"

Jonathan opened his eyes and looked at the man who was standing across the room; he had a mouthful of food and was chewing it happily. Jonathan looked down to see a good portion of his plate empty, despite the fact he had only eaten a two meatballs.

He looked up at the man again and raised his eyebrow in suspicion but he had not moved from his spot. Jonathan then went to pick up another meatball and before he could it disappeared, he then went for another however this time he was ready and

Jonathan looked up to see that the man's arm was stretched across the room.

"Let go you selfish Jerk," the man demanded.

Jonathan complied and the arm flung back hitting the man in the face and he fell backwards onto the floor. He didn't seem to care though as he continued to happily chew the food.

"So you finally reveal yourself, Monkey D. Luffy," Jonathan smiled standing up.

The marine commander walked over to Luffy, the pirated captin looked up at him

"I am the Commader of G-8, Vice Admril Jonathan. Welcome to Navore," Jonathan introduced.

Luffy however stared up at him without any regcingionto of the danger he was in.

"Now I would rather not resort to violence in the mess hall, the head chief is particualer about fighting in the eating area," Jonathan claimed.

"Really? Sanji has no issues about being violent," Luffy stated.

"Sanji?" Joantahn asked.

"Hes my cook…he dose amzing food, those meatballs were his," Luffy bragged "I love his cooking and can never get enough of it,"

"Really….so is he in the mess hall too?" Jonatahn asked.

"Yep, he's been making food all day…I don't mind because I get to taste everything that him and the other chiefs make," Luffy said happly.

"So…your in a mairne fortress, you and your chief who is clearly very talented disguse your selves as cook so you can eat non-stop," Jonathan stated.

"Yep, pretty good plan right?" Luffy asked with a big grin.

'Well I certantly wouln't hve thought of it,' jonathan thought to himself.

"Straw Hat while you are here would you mind awnsering one question for me?" Jonathan asked.

"Umm….olay but only if I can have half of those meatballs that are left," Luffy said.

"Tell you what, you can have them all if you promise to awser truthfully," Jonathan said.

"Really, thanks,"Luffy said and streached out his arm to grab the palte "sorry about calling you a selfish jerk…we should be frends,"

"I don't think that is possible," Jonathan said "Now onto my question. No matter what I do I can't figure it out, the one who defeated Crocodile was Captain Smoker, you gained nether fame or fortune in Alabasta,"

"Huh…Smoky didn't beat Crocodile," Luffy said.

"He didn't?" Jonathan asked in surprise.

"Nope I did," Luffy claimed "I kicked his ass,"

"You…You defeated crocodile?" Jonathan asked.

"Yep he was being a selfish jerk so I kicked his ass," Luffy claimed.

"But he's a Logia type user," Jonathan stated.

"Yeah that sand power was annoying, not to mention the poison in his hook hand," Luffy said.

"Poison?" Jonathan asked.

"Yeah I would have died if Alty hadn't saved me," Luffy claimed.

"Alty? Is he a member of your crew?"

"No, he's some guy I met. Really grumpy, but he had a Logia power too," Luffy claimed.

"Really? Which one?" Jonathan asked.

Since Logia devil fruits were incredibly rare every single one was recorded and who its user was, if Luffy could remember what Logia power this Alty had then Jonathan would be able to identify who the user was.

"Wind I think," Luffy said.

"Wind…that would be the Kaze-Kaze fruit…" Jonathan gasped.

"Yep that's the one Alty said he ate," Luffy claimed.

"But that means Alty is….wait…you don't mean Altair do you?" Jonathan asked in surprise.

"That's him; but his name is hard to pronounce so I call him Alty," Luffy claimed.

Jonatan took a step back in shock; he could not believe what he was hearing. Luffy had had an encounter with the Mentor of the Assassin Brotherhood and lived. This was unheard of as the Brotherhood was known for being ruthless and brutal killers, they killed anyone who was unfortunate to cross their paths.

But Luffy had lived.

"Hey meatball guy, something wrong?" Luffy asked in concern.

"No, it's nothing," Jonathan said.

"So was that your question?" Luffy asked.

"Actually I wanted to know why your crew came here, what do you want from Navaore?" Jonathan asked.

"Well I was hungry but I don't want anything really. This was just where we landed and I;ve got to say this place is pretty fun," Luffy said.

"So you just happened to land here after visiting an Island in the sky," Jonathan said.

"Yeah….hey how did you know?" Luffy asked.

"Your first mate Roanoa Zoro told me," Jonathan smirked "We captured him this morning,"

Luffys happy and fun demeanour instantly faded.

"Zoro….where is he?" Luffy asked seriously.

"Why do you want to know?" Jonathan asked.

"Simple, I'm going to rescue him," Luffy declared loudly.

"There's really no need, after all you will be joining him soon," Jonathan said.

Luffy go ready to fight and Jonathan took a step forward, the moment he did the atmosphere seemed to turn cold and the marines commanders prescience seemed to dominate the room. However before a fight could break out the door behind Luffy opened and Sanji grabbed him and pulled him out.

"What the….Sanji?" Luffy asked.

"We have to go, there's something weird with that guy," Sanji said.

However when they emerged from the private room they were met by all of the cooks, each one had a utensil in there hand and were glaring at them hatefully, anger and betrayal was written all over there face. But Jessica's face only held server disappointment.

"So you two aren't chiefs after all," Jessica said.

"Nope, we're pirates," Luffy said with a smile.

Sanji groaned, he really wish Luffy would learn to keep his mouth shut. Jessica turned her attention to Sanji.

"It's a shame talent such as yours is wasted on cooking for pirate scum like him," Jessica said "Don't resist, we may be cooks but we have all know how to fight,"

"Hph, I was raised in a restaurant with dozens of chiefs like that, and they were way tougher then you lot," Sanji smirked.

He eyed the cooks, he knew if it came down to a fight he and Luffy could take them without too much trouble, but he also knew he would not be able to fight Jessica and if Luffy did hurt her he would have no choice but to fight his captain as well.

Suddenly the door behind them opened and Jonatan walked out, Sanji and Luffy looked over at him as his commanding presence filled the room.

'Damn…that weird feeling is back,' Sanji thought.

"Give up, you have nowhere to go," Jonathan said.

However before anyone could do anything Marines started to pour into the Mess Hall, they filled the room eager to have lunch, none of them seemed to care that all the chiefs and the bases commander was out in the open, nor did they hear them trying to tell them to what was going on. They just pushed by them to take their seats.

Sanji grabbed Luffy and ran through the incoming crowd and once they were out of the mess they ran off escaping into the base.

Jonathan pushed his way through he marines as well but once he got out Luffy was nowhere in sighed and the commander had no idea which way the pirates had gone.

"Oh well….I'll get them eventually," Jonathan sighed.

He started to head back to his office and when he got there Drake was standing there with a squad of Marines and who were holding a man with a long nose.

"What's this?" Jonatan asked.

"We found this unknown recruit snooping around the captured Pirate ship," Drake said "he didn't know his Unit so I suspect he's a pirate,"

"Hmm….who are you?" Jonathan asked.

"Me I'm…." Usopp heisted trying to come up with a good lie.

"Well, speak up," Drake demanded.

"I'm a….Special undercover investigator from Marine Hq," Usopp said.

"What? You expect us to believe that?" Drake declared.

"Well we were supposed to get an investigator today," Jonathan agreed.

"Huh….we were?" Drake asked in surprise "why didn't you tell me?"

"It slipped my mind, we've been a little preoccupied lately," Jonathan said casually.

Usopp's confidence suddenly came back.

"That's right that's me, Investigator Usopp. I usually disguise myself as a Marines so I can see firsthand and observe well this base is run," Usopp lied.

"Like anyone would believe that," Drake declared.

"Oh that makes sense," Jonathan said.

"It Dose?!" Drake yelled.

"Yeah after all if the men knew they were being watched by some official they would be all tense, it is easier to see them when they are relaxed quite a professional tactic if you ask me," Jonathan said.

"Welcome Investigator, I apologise that no one was there to meet you," Jonathan said politely.

"Oh that's alright, it gave me time to start looking around…though I have to say I am not impressed with the way he handles important guests," Usopp said and pointed at Drake.

"HEY!" Drake shouted.

"Yes he is a bit of a brute sometimes," Jonathan agreed with a smile.

"COMMANDER!" Drake yelled.

Before the conversation could continue a Marine walked in with a tall dark haired woman wearing a Marine Commanders coat.

"Sir, there is someone from Hq here to see you," the marine announced.

Usopp froze and looked over his shoulder to see the real investigator however he was relieved to see that it was just Robin in disguise.

"Hello, are you Vice Admiral Jonathan?" Robin asked.

"Yes that's me," Jonathan answered.

"My name is Commander Shepherd, I am a Special investigator here to inspect the Navore and observe how it is run," the woman said and pulled out an ID badge and handed it to the commander.

Jonathan took it and looked at it.

"I believe you received a Letter from Admiral Akainu informing you of my visit," Robin continued.

"I did yes….will you excuse me for a minute," Jonathan said.

He then turned to Drake.

"Drake…arrest this man, he is clearly an imposter," Jonathan ordered.

"YOU ONLY RELAISE THAT NOW!" Drake yelled.

Drake commanded his men to take Usopp to the brig and left with them to continue the search for the other pirates.

"Do you always let you officers talk to you like that?" Robin asked once they were gone.

"Oh no, Drake is just a bit short tempered, he is under a lot of stress lately," Jonathan claimed.

"Oh anything I should be aware of?" Robin asked.

"Unfortunately you came at a bad time, you see we are on high alert as we have been infiltrated by pirates," Jonathan explained.

"Then I won't keep you, I will start my investigation and be on my way," Robin said.

"Very well, I will have an escort take you to wherever you need to go….do you have a preference to where you would like to stat?" Jonathan asked.

"I will start with the bases records, I would like to make sure that everything I see is in keeping to the paper work and Marine Standards," Robin claimed.

"Of course of course, help yourself…if you need anything do not hesitate to ask," Jonathan said.

"Very well, good luck with catching those pirates. I will of course expect a report on your progress at the end of the day," Robin said.

"Of course, of course," Jonathan agreed.

Robin turned and left, gesturing for her escort to follow her. Once she was gone Jonathan sat at his desk and started writing a report on everything that had happened so far and his actions taken to try and find the pirates.

He was about half way through his report when Drake walked in.

"Ah Drake, any updates?" Jonathan asked.

"Yes, we found another pirate," Drake said "he has been taken to the brig with the others,"

"Another pirate?" Jonathan asked.

"Yes he claimed to be that the Marine inspector from Hq, however the both Zoro and the other pirate we caught identified him as there comrade Condoriano," Drake said.

Jonathans eyes narrowed.

"He claimed to be Commander Shepard?" Jonathan asked.

"Yes, though the real one is inspecting the base as we speak so clearly this was not a well thought out lie," Drake said.

"Hmmm…..I wonder," Jonathan mumbled.

"Sir?" Drake asked.

"Nothing, thank you for the update. Please keep up the good work," Jonathan said.

Drake gave the vice admiral a salute and then walked out; once he was gone Jonathan leaned back in his chair deep in thought.

'Two commander Shepherds one male, one female….both show up within hours of each can't be a coincidence but…which one is the marine and which one is the Pirate?' Jonathan thought to himself.

"A Paragon of Justice or a Renegade Pirate, only time will which is which," Jonathan said to himself.


	54. G8 Pt3

_**A.n Hey everyone, Merry Christmas. I hope you all got lots of cool and fun stuff from your friends, family and Santa. Just so you are aware there will be no updates in January from the 10th on wards as I will be taking some time off and going on holiday with my family. I will be posting a reminder closer to the date but if all goes according to plan and I don't suffer from any writers block I should have the G-8 Arc finished before I leave.**_

 _ **Also after my break I will begin planning for the New World Arcs. It's early days I know but I like to have this stuff written down in advance. I have a few ideas in mind and I would very much like all my readers to assist me. So if you have any ideas, Characters or scenarios that you would like to see...even if its your own idea for a filler i would love to hear them.**_

 _ **By popular request I will be incorporating Shay Cormac and be bringing back Edward and Adewale. I really like Edward and Shay has been requested to appear in this story more times than any other assassins creed character. I just ask that you be patient as they will not make an appearance until the New World Arcs, this is because I only have 4-5 arcs left and of the Straw Hats Creed - Grand Line and it is too late to incorporate them in this story.**_

 _ **I know a lot of people want me to pair Connor up with someone or pair the other crew members up with each other but this is not a ship fic. I am however open to the idea of Connor having a somewhat first crush type situation on someone for comedic purposes. Keep in mind this will not be a serious relationship of any kind it is purely for teasing and joking material so if you have a suggestion regarding that please keep it light and funny.**_

 _ **As I said before I would love to see any and all suggestions that my readers may have, if your ideas make it into the story you will be credited for it. Please keep your ideas and reviews separate, this is to avoid any possibility of spoiler if the ideas make it into the story. If your idea dose get incorporated into the story i will contact you for further advice when writing it up; especially if it is a filler chapter or arc.**_

 _ **If you would like to send me your ideas PM me with the title**_ **New World Suggestion** _ **. If you are a guest user then please create an account so I know who to credit the idea to if you don't then you will not receive credit.**_

 _ **the deadline for this is the end of February, after that I will have finished the brainstorming phase begin writing plot notes and Arc summries. After midnight on the 1st of March I will not consider any more ideas or suggestions.**_

 _ **Anyway I hope to you all have a Merry Christmas and I look forward to reading any and all suggestions you may have.**_

 _ **As always Please Review**_

* * *

Jonathan was sitting at his desk staring at a very stiff and embarrassed Commander Drake, the lieutenant had come to give a report on his latest attempt to capture Luffy and his crew however his uniform was damaged and burnt.

Jonathan had listened to the report and he was very surprised at what he herd.

"So….let me get this straight. You had set a trap for the Straw Hat Luffy in the brig using his captured crew as bait," Jonathan started.

"That is correct," Drake responded.

"And Luffy and one other pirate came in…"

"Yes,"

"You had them surrounded on both sides,"

"Yes we were all set to strike,"

"And then they…blew up the brig," Jonathan finished.

"Yes…with a sea shell," Drake confirmed.

"How?" Jonathan asked.

"I'm not sure, the blond one pulled a shell out of the long nosed pirates pocket and then this foul smelling gas filled the brig and it ignited thanks to one of the lanterns on the wall," Drake explained.

"What was the gas?" Jonathan asked "Perhaps something sinister or a deadly poison,"

"Umm….one of the pirates farts," Drake claimed "They…they apparently stored it in the shell as a practical joke,"

"So they got away by lighting a fart on fire?" Jonathan asked in disbelief.

"Yes…although not all of them escaped, they left behind Condoriano," Drake claimed "we bound and gagged him and then moved him to another location to hold him,"

"Where exactly did you put him?" Jonathan asked.

"A broom closet," Drake answered casually "it's under guard now,"

"Well that is something I suppose," Jonathan sighed "where are you men now?"

"I had those that weren't hurt start making their way to the dock where we're holding the Pirates ship," Drake claimed "I believe that is where they will be heading next now that the whole base is on high alert,"

"Hmmm….a fair assumption," Jonathan agreed "But Drake, why didn't you position men outside the brig encase your first ambush didn't work or they tried to escape?"

"I did sir…it's just…." Drake trailed off.

"Just what?" Jonathan asked.

"Well…they never came out of the brig, the men I stationed there to wait for them…said that only we had come out," Drake claimed.

"Wait…they didn't leave the brig?" Jonathan answered.

"Not through the front entrance anyway,"

"But the only other way leads back into the centre of the base," Jonathan said "it would be suicide to go out that way as they would have to go round the whole of Navore again,"

"None the less that is what they did," Drake claimed.

"Hmm….Straw Hat Luffy must be smarter than we first thought," Jonathan thought.

"Sir?" Drake asked.

"Think about it, he goes to rescue his friends and instead of going out the way he came in he takes a different route, he must have suspected that we would have men waiting for him to come back out," Jonathan explained.

"I see…by going back through the base we would have a hard time finding him again," Drake claimed catching on to his commander's thoughts.

"Exactly, I recently learned that Straw Hat Luffy had an encounter with Altair and lived,"

"T….The Mentor of the Brotherhood?" Drake gasped.

"Indeed to survive an encounter with him is no small feat. We must be careful when dealing with The Straw Hats, it appears Luffy maybe more cunning and skilled than we first thought," Jonathan said seriously.

"I see…that would explain why he chose to run back through the base…he must've known there was a second ambush," Drake agreed.

"Indeed, clearly he and his crew have a plan…but until we figure it out I want you to be mindful about who we're dealing with," Jonathan claimed.

"I will sir, clearly Straw Hat Luffy is a master of strategy and planning," Drake agreed.

* * *

Luffy, Zoro, Sanji and Usopp were running through the base trying to escape any pursuers that may have followed them and so far they had been successful, however they had not yet found the way out…this was mainly due to Zoro being in front and leading the group.

The stood in front of a dead end. Zoro looked very irritated.

"This is the fifth dead end in the last five minutes," Sanji complained "why are letting Moss head lead us?"

"Shut up pervo cook," Zoro snapped back.

"I vote someone else leads from now on," Usopp said "I know where the Merry is, let's just get to it as soon as we can,"

"You know where the Merry is…WHY DIDN"T YOU SAY SOMETHING BEFORE!" Sanji yelled.

"I did, he kept saying he knew a short cut," Usopp said and pointed at Zoro.

Zoro's eyes twitched.

"And you believed him?" Sanji accused.

"Hell no, but there were marines chasing us, what was I supposed to do?" Usopp asked.

"We're in a marine base, marines are going to chase us no matter what," Sanji pointed out "At least Usopp have an idea on where we should be going,"

"Fine you lot want to run around in circles be my guest," Zoro said "I'll find the way out before any of you,"

Zoro then ran off and turned the right corner, the rest of the crew watched him go. A few seconds later he was back coming round the left corner, the swordsman seemed very surprised that he had come back but the rest of the crew weren't.

"What the…how did I get back here?" Zoro asked.

Sanji and Usopp sighed while Luffy just laughed.

"So where is the Merry?" Sanji asked ignoring Zoro.

"It's in one of the dock, it's off limits to everyone but the docks and shipwright staff," Usopp said.

"So it's likely to be unguarded then," Sanji said.

"Maybe, I can't be sure but it was unguarded when I was there last time," Usopp claimed.

"Right….lets head to the ship," Sanji agreed.

"Hey guys, lets head this way next," Luffy said and pointed down a ranodom hall way.

"Luffy were trying to get back to the Merry," Sanji sighed.

"But this way looks fun," Luffy whined.

"Well tough we're going to the ship," Usopp said.

"Okay…but Zoro just ran down this way," Luffy said.

Sanji and Usopp face's fell.

"AFTER HIM!" Sanji cried.

"DON'T LET HIM GET LOST AGAIN!" Usopp said and the two took off running after the swordsman.

Luffy followed laughing.

They ran down the hall after Zoro and they eventually caught up to the swordsman, unfortunately they were all now servilely lost so Luffy picked a random direction and headed that way, they kept running through different corridors and halls while avoiding marines and Luffy kept changing directions until they came outside.

They were standing on a cliff path overlooking the lake below and could see the outer ring of the island.

"Hey were out," Usopp said happily.

"See I told you I knew where we were going," Luffy said proudly.

"More like you kept guessing until you got it right," Sanji said.

He then turned to Usopp.

"Hey can you see the dock with the Merry from here?" Sanji asked.

Usopp looked over the lake and the shore on the other side; he didn't have his goggles so it was a bit hard to tell.

"Umm...let's see..." Usopp said as he looked for the dock.

"So your heading back to your ship are you?" a familiar voice asked from above them.

The crew looked up to the source of the voice and saw a balcony right above them and Jonathan was standing there watching them. Usopp instantly hid behind a large nearby rock and Zoro and Sanji got into battle stances.

"Hey it's meatball guy," Luffy said "Hi meatball guy,"

"Luffy that's the commander of the base," Usopp said fearfully "I bet he knew we were here so he came to capture us,"

"Not really, I just came out to get some air," Jonathan said casually "the fact that I'm out here at the same time as you is purely coincidental,"

"You expect us to believe that?" Sanji responded.

"Well...this is my office so this makes it my balcony...I didn't move it here just for you," Jonathan claimed.

"You have an office?" Luffy asked "is it a big one?"

"Oh yeah huge, tons of space," Jonathan said.

"Really? Can i see?" Luffy asked.

"NOOO!" Zoro, Sanji and Usopp yelled.

"If you want," Jonathan shrugged.

"Alright," Luffy said happily.

He stretched his arm out, grabbing onto the railing and pulling himself up onto the balcony. Jonathan stepped aside and Luffy ran past him and looked around the vice admirals office.

"LUFFY!" Zoro Sanji and Usopp yelled.

Jonathan watched the pirate carefully trying to determine what he was up too. Jonathan turned back to the crew.

"Did you want to look around too?" he asked.

"NO!" they yelled.

Jonathan shrugged and moved to the balcony door and leaned against the door frame watching Luffy explore his office.

"Woah...this place is huge," Luffy said exaltedly as he ran around the office looking at various things.

"Hey are all these medals yours?" Luffy asked and pointed to the awards on display.

"Yes, but I must ask why are you so interested in how big my office is?" Jonathan asked.

"Well my gramps always used to complain how he didn't have a big office to do his work...he said the marines were being stingy," Luffy claimed.

"Grandfather?" Jonathan asked "your grandfather was in the marines?"

"Yeah, he was always complaining how his office was too small and that he could not see the girls training yard or bathroom from his office...he called the maries stingy basterds for not moving him or giving him a bigger room," Luffy said.

"Huh...I don't recall any maries like that...do you know where he was stationed?" Jonathan asked.

"Uh...I think he told me once but I don't really remember it's been a long time since I've seen him. But he spent most of his time on ships and patrolling the seas," Luffy claimed.

"Oh...well perhaps he was calling the marines stingy for his small cabin size on his ship then," Jonathan reasoned "they are not all that big,"

"Maybe...he a fishing rod," Luffy said excitedly and completely forgetting what they had just been talking about. He ran up to the rod.

"Do like to fish?" Luffy asked.

"Yes it's my favourite hobby," Jonathan said.

"Really, i like fishing too...though we hardly catch anything," Luffy said.

"We would if you stopped eating all the bait," Usopp yelled.

Jonathan looked over to the other pirates and then back at Luffy.

"You eat the bait?" Jonathan asked.

"Yeah, i get hungry," Luffy smiled.

"What time do you normally go fishing?" Jonatan asked.

"In the middle of the day," Luffy answered.

"You know the fish are more active just before dawn and dusk," Jonathan said.

"Really...huh maybe that's why we never catch anything," Luffy said.

"What type of rod do you use?" Jonathan asked.

"Whatever we have on hand," Luffy shrugged.

"Oh no that will never do, you need a good sturdy rod, take mine for example it's light but strong and flexible," Jonathan started.

The vice admiral walked over and began to show off his fishing rods and reels as well as give Luffy advice on fishing. Luffy listened eagerly and both seemed to completely forget that they were supposed to be fighting.

"Now as important as the rod is the sting quality is the most important part of the rod, if you have a low quality sting it will snap and you will never catch anything. I personally like to use very thin wire, it's strong and less likely to break...pulls it's also hard for the fish to see in the water," Jonathan explained.

Below the rest of the crew were waiting for Luffy and they could hear every word that was being said.

"Are they having a conversation...about fishing?" Zoro asked.

"Yeah...sounds like the marine commander is really passionate about it too," Usopp observed.

"They do remember that were supposed to be enemies right?" Sanji asked.

Jonathan and Luffy continued to discuss fishing and various catches they had both made over the years for a while.

"So Straw hat, you said you would not leave until you were ready. I take it since you are heading to your ship that you are ready to leave then?" Johnathan asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah, I don't want to but I don't want to get caught either," Luffy said.

"Oh...why don't you want to leave?" Jonathan asked.

"This place is fun," Luffy said "I don't like leaving fun places,"

"Oh...well I am glad you have enjoyed my base. I must say that you surprised me, you are clearly a strategist than I had expected," Jonathan complimented.

"Huh...what are you talking about?" Luffy asked.

"The way you avoided my Marines and our ambushes...and how you escaped the brig," Jonathan clarified.

"Oh that...we just got lost," Luffy said.

Jonathan stared at Luffy in shock for a moment.

"You...got lost," Jonathan repeated.

"Yeah, but it was fun," Luffy smiled.

"Getting lost is fun?" Jonathan asked sceptically.

"Yeah I mean it's not about where you're going, it's how you get there right?" Luffy asked.

Jonathan stared at Luffy in surprise for a moment and then burst out laughing.

"I suppose it is, it's not often I meet someone like you," Jonathan said.

Before the conversation could continue Jonathan's office door opened and Drake walked in. the other two occupants turned and looked at him.

"Commander I'm here to report..." Drake started but trailed off once he saw Luffy.

"STRAW HAT!" Drake yelled.

He pulled out his pistol and opened fire at Luffy, Luffy dodged the gunfire and fled out of the office through the balcony. Jonathan sighed and walked back to the balcony to see the straw hat crew running down the cliff side path.

"Damn he got away," Drake cursed.

"Well that was rude," Jonathan said "we were having a wonderful conversation,"

"Oh did you get any information out if him?" Drake asked.

"Oh we weren't talking about that...we were talking about fishing," Jonathan smiled.

Anger flashed across Drakes face.

"Sir that was the very pirate that invaded our base...you are not supposed to talk about your hobbies with them!" Drake yelled.

"You really need to calm down Drake, too much stress and anger is bad for your blood pressure," Jonathan advised.

"Sir need I remind you that you are older than me," Drake pointed out.

"Well either way they're heading back to their ship," Jonathan said.

"Yes I came to report that I have several squads of marines standing ready for them. Those pirates won't escape this time," Drake said confidently.

"Hmm...we'll see," Jonathan said thoughtfully.

"You doubt our men's ability's?" Drake asked.

"Oh no nothing of the sort. I think I've just figured out why Straw Hat Luffy survived his encounter with Alter," Jonathan said.

"Sir?" Drake asked.

"Well...I think it's best if you figure it out on your own," Jonathan said "take charge of the ambush, use whatever methods and equipment that you deem necessary,"

"I will sir," Drake said.

"Oh and Drake...do not underestimate Straw Hat Luffy," Jonathan warned.

"I won't sir, I know exactly who I'm dealing with," Drake claimed.

He walked out of the office to go to the docks and take charge of the ambush he had set up, Drake was determined to no fail again. Jonathan watched him go and once he was gone the commander walked over to his Den-Den Mushi and diked a number.

"Officer Dufraine speaking," a Marine responded.

"This is Vice Admiral Jonathan; have the treasure recovered from the Pirate ship brought to my office,"

"All of it sir?" Dufraine asked.

"Yes all of it," Jonathan said.

"It'll take some time to move it all," the Dufraine claimed.

"That's fine, as long as it's done before tonight," Jonathan claimed.

"Why tonight sir?" the Dufraine asked.

"Because fish are more active at night," Jonathan smirked.

* * *

Luffy, Zoro and Sanji ran through the base, they were following Usopp this who was leading them towards the dock where the Merry was being kept. Sanji had pointed out that even if they found the ship and got it back they could not leave without Nami, Robin, Chopper and Connor; Luffy told him not to worry about it as he was sure that the others would meet up with them and that everything would work out.

Sanji should have known that Luffy would give him an answer like that.

"Oi Usopp, how much further?" Sanji asked.

"It's just around this next bend," Usopp claimed.

They ran round the corner and into one of the docks and just like Usopp had said the Merry was waiting for them on the other side. Unfortunately so was almost every marine in the base, the dock was filled with them and all of them had their weapons trained on the crew.

The straw hats froze when they saw the Marines blocking the way to their ship. Drake was standing in front of the marines with a large smirk on his face.

"I thought you said this place was unguarded," Zoro said to Usopp.

"It was, they must've set this up after our jail brake," Usopp claimed.

"Cannon Unit fire," Drake ordered.

A Marine with a bazooka on his shoulder fired but instead of a cannon ball a net came flying out, it wrapped around Luffy any and he was thrown back against the wall. Luffy instantly felt his strength drain, he struggled weakly against the net but could not break free of it.

"Oi Luffy quit messing around and get out of that thing," Sanji scolded.

"I can't get...I feel so weak," Luffy said.

"What?" Zoro asked.

"He can't escape," Drake said confidently "that net is made with Kairōseki,"

"Kairōseki...That's made out of Sea Stone?" Sanji gasped.

"It is, with the captain and only Devil Fruit user here out of the way the rest of you will be easy to take down," Drake claimed.

"I don't think so, you made a fatal mistake. Luffy is closer to us then you, I'll just cut the net off him," Zoro said and put his hand on his katana.

"Can you do that before he is killed?" Drake asked.

Zoro froze.

"I have five sniper units here with me, there up on the catwalk above us," Drake said and gestured to the marine filled catwalk and upper level "one unit has their sights trained solely on your captain, the other four units are focused on you three. If you do anything other than surrender my sniper will take their shot and your captain will be the first to die,"

"My orders don't specify whether I take you in dead or alive and since your pirates the higher ups won't care either way. The choice is yours, either give up or die," Drake smirked.

"Shit they've really got us," Sanji hissed.

"What do we do?" Usopp asked fearfully "It'll take a miracle to save us,"

However before the decision could be made something blunt slammed into Usopp from behind and sent him flying straight upwards. The pirates and the Marines were stared in shock as they saw what had hit Usopp. Nami was standing next to a purple hard woman wearing a doctors coat and glasses, they both had a tight grip on a wheeled hospital gurney which is what they had accidently crashed into Usopp.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!" Nami screamed when she noticed the Marines.

this brought Drake out of his shock.

"HEY YOU TWO...WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Drake yelled.

"Uh...Well...you see...Uhh..." Nami studded trying to come up with an explanation.

Just then Usopp came back down and crashed on the floor.

"Huh...what was that noise?" Choppers voice came from under the sheet, the little reindeer poked his head out.

"USOPPP!" Chopper screamed when he saw Usopp on the ground. He instantly turned into his human form and picked up his friend.

"THESE WOUNDS ARE SEIEROUS...WHO DID THIS TO YOU?! WAS IT THE MARINES?!" Chopper demanded.

"No it was you," Zoro and Sanji said together.

Chopper stood up and flung Usopp over his shoulder.

"Another one...is his part of the pirates too?" Drake wondered.

He got his answer when the purple heired doctor let out a high pitch ear-piercing scream, it caused everyone in the room to cover their ears.

"HELP US WE'VE BEEN TAKEN HOSGTAGE!" the purple haired woman cried.

"H...Hostage?" Drake asked.

Nami looked at the woman next to her and quickly caught on.

"That's right he's one of the pirates that invaded, he said he would kill us if we didn't come with him," Nami cried "save us please,"

"Huh?!" Chopper asked dumbfounded "hey since when am i supposed to be a hostage taker?" Chopper asked.

Nami and the other doctor didn't answer, they just kept squealing in fear. Zoro and Sanji were equally confused as to what was going on.

"Hey what's going on...are we taking hostages now?" Zoro whispered to Sanji "and who's that other woman?"

"Beats me...do you think she's single?" Sanji whispered back.

"Why is that your first question?" Zoro asked irritably.

Zoro then turned and looked over at the marines who were all very tense and unwilling to act while the girls were at the pirate's side.

"Still...the marines have halted their attack," Zoro observed.

"Sir if this is a hostage situation we can't act rashly," a marine advised Drake.

"I know...damn this is why i hate pirates, taking hostages...a bunch of cowards," Drake hissed.

Chopper heard this and he turned around to face the marines pulling the sheet over his chest for dramatic affect.

"That's right these women are my hostages and if my demands are not met then I will kill them, but only after I have performed vast and un-imaginable experiments on them," Chopper declared "For i am the Straw Hats infamous mad Doctor,"

"They can't be buying this can they?" Zoro asked.

"Mad Doctor...the straw hats had some like that on their crew?" a marine asked.

"Sir we have to save those poor women," another Marine said.

"And here i thought Usopp was our resident liar," Sanji muttered.

Drake didn't respond, he stared at the pirates in front of him as he proceeded the situation.

"Hey Roannoa Zoro, is this true will he really do what he says?" Drake demanded.

"Oh yeah, he goes ballistic whenever one of us pisses him off," Zoro said with an evil smile "in fact even Luffy here has trouble keeping him in lime,"

"Come on now, a man who upholds justice wouldn't want anything to happen to these lovley ladies," Sanji said in a playful voice "after we pirates are not known for being gentle,"

Nami and the other doctor shook their heads.

"Please help us, do as they say," they begged.

"Grr...Fine, state your demands," Drake ordered.

"Throw down your weapons and move aside so we can leave," Chopper demanded "if any of you make a move or try to stop us then I will kill the girls in an instant,"

Drake didn't move, if he complied with the pirates demands then he would be letting them go. On the other hand if he didn't and the girls got hurt it would reflect badly on him and the marines as a whole.

"Hurry up, I am not known for my practice, if you don't do as i say the hostages will suffer my wrath," Chopper said more forcefully.

"All units throw down your weapons, snipers disarm your fire arms," Drake ordered "the rest of you make a path to the ship,"

"Are they…Are they actually doing this?" Sanji asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, let's hope so," Zoro said.

Zoro walked over to Luffy and cut him free; he bent down and pulled one of Luffy's arms over his shoulder so he could support the weakened captain. He pulled Luffy up and after a minute the marines had created a path leading straight to the Merry.

"There we've given you safe passage to your ship, now release the girls," Drake demanded.

"No, not until we've escaped," Chopper said "once were out at sea we will put them in a life boat until then they stay with us,"

"You fiend," Drake hissed.

"Chopper...this is dirty...I'm disappointed in you," Luffy said weakly.

"Shut up," Zoro hissed.

They started a walking towards the ship, Zoro and Luffy were in front, Chopper and the two girls in the middle and Sanji brought up the rear keeping an eye on the Marines behind them. Zoro was watching carefully for any sign of movement amongst the marines and so far it seemed that the Lieutenant was true to his word.

However something caught his eye.

"Luffy when I give the signal, stretch your arm out and get everyone on board the ship," Zoro said softly "can you do that?"

"Yeah…sure…"Luffy responded weakly.

When they were about three quarters of the way to the ship a Marine accidently dropped his rifle causing the pirates to stop and look at him, the marine apologised and while they were distracted a second marine appeared and grabbed the purple haired doctor taking her back into the crowd. Another married tried to grab Nami but she freaked out and punched him in the face.

"You idiot, he was trying to save you," Drake yelled out.

"I knew this was going too smoothly," Zoro said "Luffy now,"

Luffy stretched his arm back and Drake ordered his men to attack, since the straw hats were surrounded by all sides it would be impossible to avoid fighting and they would be at a sever disadvantage.

However at that moment the Merry began to creak and suddenly began to move back into the water. Everyone in the room stopped and turned to look at the ship which was somehow moving on its own despite the fact that it should have been anchored in place.

"Everyone where getting on!" Luffy cried.

He maneuverered his stretched out arm to hit the back of Sanji, Nami and Chopper whit such a force that they were thrown on the Merry, he then grabbed hold of the Merry's railing.

"Did they even survive that?" Zoro wondered.

"Zoro now us," Luffy said happily.

It was only now that Zoro realised he still had an one of Luffy's arms around his neck and a second later he and e swordsman's face placed and a second later he and Luffy were flying through the air heading straight for the ship; they slammed head first into the side of the ship before bouncing off and landing on board.

As the Merry was moving down the launch ramp Connor suddenly burst out from one of the upper level doors, he ran along the cat-walk and at the end leapt over the rail and landed on the top of the main sail.

"What the...is that a child?" Drake gasped.

Connor carefully made his way along the top sail releasing the ropes that held the main sail in place and the Merry's sail came free.

The merry shook as it splashed into the lake and it sailed off.

"Damn it...OPEN FIRE!" Drake commanded.

"Sir they still have a hostage," one marine pointed out.

"Then fire warning shots," Drake ordered.

The Marines did as they were told but their shots didn't hit the ship or the crew, and none of there shots hit the ship or the crew, Luffy just laughed it off. While he was laughing Nami and Sanji came over and Nami hit Luffy in the across the head with her climeit Tact and Sanji squashed his head with his boot.

"Every time...every freakin time...CAN'T YOU THINK OF OTHER WAYS TO SAVE US?!" Sanji yelled.

"Be gentler with normal people," Nami scolded.

"Sothiy(Sorry)," Luffy said.

"Right everyone set sail, Chopper man the helm," Nami ordered.

The rest of the crew did what they were told and Connor came down to help, Nami ordered the crew around and once they were out of range she had Chopper steer the ship close to the outer ring of the base,

"Hey Nami...why are we so close to those cannons?" Luffy asked.

"if we stay in the centre the marines could fire on

"Are they likely to fire on us?" Connor asked with a hint of fear in his voice.

"Maybe, hopefully they will think I'm still a hostage and won't," Nami said.

She knew how the boy reacted to cannon fire and they did not need Connor breaking down right now. After they had recruited Chopper Nami and the others had brought up what happened to Connor when cannons were fired at them and Chopper told them it could have been caused by a number of things but until he saw the affects in person he could not help.

After they had escaped from the maries chasing them right before they entered the rainbow mist Chopper had seen just how Connor reacted to cannon fire, he had sat down with Connor do discuss what happened and after talking with the boy he diagnosed it was a server case of PTSD(1)

Chopper had explained to the crew that it was caused because Connor had never dealt with his initial shock or trauma at seeing his village attacked and burnt down. Because of this and his following enslavement he had subconsciously suppressed it and the fear he felt back then. Now cannon balls triggered all that fear and suppressed causing those emotions to come out which caused him to break down. Chopper also claimed that the reason Connor feared and ran away from the crew during these episodes was because it triggered painful flash backs and his mind makes him believe he is back at the centre of his burning village and people were trying to take him away.

The straw hats had naturally been concerned and wanted to help but Chopper claimed that going near the boy during those episodes would make it worse and they just had to wait and leave him alone until he came out of it on his own and his mind re-suppressed the trauma.

Nami turned her attention back to the lake in front of her, she knew that they could not stay out in the open for very long as sooner or later the marines would realise that she wasn't a hostage at all and would fire on them.

"We need to get out now, but I don't know where to go...damn it, this is why I wanted to gather information," Nami muttered to herself.

"Hey where's Robin?" Connor asked.

"There she is," Luffy said, and pointed out towards the cliff.

Robin was swinging across the lake using several hands connected to a wall as a rope, she was holding a rolled up piece of paper. She landed on the deck.

"Hello everyone, you all caused quite a commotion," Robin smiled "I brought a map of the island,"

Robin held up the rolled up piece of paper and gave it to Nami. Nami looked at it and it not only showed the structure and inter of the base but also the currents in the lake as well.

"Robin you're a genius, this is perfect," Nami said happily as she threw herself on the archaeologist and gave her a massive hug "You're the only one I can trust and relay on,"

"Oh...um..." Robin started, she was loss for words and unsure how to react to this.

While Nami was looking over the map the crew talked amongst themselves and told each other what they had been doing since they had been forced to flee the ship. Usopp explained he and Zoro had gotten caught while Robin posed as an official Marine inspector. Sanji claimed he and Luffy disguised themselves as chefs in the kitchen...though only Sanji had done the actual cooking. Chopper claimed he and Nami had disguised themselves as medical staff and were in the infirmary and Chopper had to preform various surgeries on some injured Marines.

"So...kid what were you doing in the base?" Zoro asked.

"Me...I was hiding out in the dock near the merry," Connor claimed.

"How did you get there?" Sanji asked.

"Well after we all spit up I swam to what i thought was a cave in the cliff but it was an abandoned dock," Connor said.

"An abandoned dock?" Robin asked.

"Yeah I hid there, I could also see the Merry so when they moved it I climbed followed it through the base...turs out there are a lot of abandoned dock and there all connected to each other," Connor claimed.

"Interesting...what about when you got to occupied ones?" Robin asked.

"I crawled into the vents; I was small enough to get through. It didn't take me long till I came across the merry so I stayed put. When I saw you guys come in i went to the anchor that was blocking the merry and realised the ship," Connor finished.

"Huh...so it was you who did that...nice job," Sanji praised.

Connor smiled at the praise however before he could respond a cannon was fired and landed near the ship with a splash, Connor froze up and his eyes instantly went wide with fear as another cannon was fired.

"STRAW HAT! YOU WON'T GET AWAY," Drakes voice came from behind them.

Usopp looked over the railing and saw three ships chasing them with Drake on the one in front, the cannons on the inner wall of the base began firing on the Merry as well. Connor squatted down in the spot he had been standing and covered his ears with his hand and shut his eyes tightly as he began to cry.

"No…No…." He started to mutter.

'Crap he's started….we don't need this right now,' Nami thought angrily.

"I thought they weren't going to fire on us," Usopp claimed.

"They had to figure it out sooner or later," Nami hissed.

"Nami where's the exit?" Chopper asked from inside the kitchen.

"Not far, there's a Seagate coming up," Nami responded.

She then looked at Luffy Sanji and Zoro.

"Defend the ship until we get there," Nami ordered "Usopp get the cannon ready, if the gates closed we will need to blast our way through,"

The boys did what they were told and worked around Connor who was now oblivious to the situation around him. Luffy, Sanji and Zoro did their best at defending the merry and it was a good thing that they had sailed against the outer wall otherwise defending the ship would have been that much harder.

They approached the Seagate and like Nami predicted it was closed.

"There it is, once we blast thought we will be able to out run and manurer them at sea," Nami said happily.

Suddenly Usopp came out on the deck.

"What are you doing, get back to the cannon and blast that gate down," Nami ordered.

"I can't, we don't have any gunpowder or cannonballs on board," Usopp claimed.

"What?" Nami asked.

"The marines must have taken them when they seized the ship," Robin said.

"But how are we going to get out then?" Nami panicked "we can't turn around and even if we could there is nowhere for us to go…we'd be caught sooner or later,"

"Nami, keep heading to the gate," Luffy said.

"We'll crash," Nami claimed.

"We have everything we need to escape, don't worry I have an idea," Luffy said with a grin.

Nami got the feeling that Luffy was going to do something stupid but she didn't have any other ideas so she ordered Chopper to maintain there course.

* * *

 _Jonathans Office_

Jonathan was out on his balcony with a pair of binoculars watching the straw hats attempt to escape, when drake had reported that he had been unable to re-capture the crew due to them taking one of the nurses' hostage Jonathan had ordered the nurses to get together and compared them to the bases staff roster.

None of them had been missing so Jonathan had ordered the defensives to open fire on the escaping pirate ship. He had then gone out onto the balcony to watch and had seen the ship head for the Seagate, the only way in or out of Navore.

He knew that the pirate ship had been stripped of all its gunpowder and cannon balls and it would not take long for the pirates to realise that either, yet it seemed that they still were headed to the Seagate.

Jonathan watched as the cannons surrounding the Seagate took aim, there was no way that straw hats tiny ship would be able to evade them.

"You played a weak game straw hat, now it's checkmate," Jonathan said disappointingly.

The cannons fired and Jonathan's jaw dropped as he saw Luffy puff up like a balloon and reflect the barge back at the sea gate.

There was a large flash and explosion that could be seen and herd though out the base. Jonathan's eyes widened as he realised what had happened.

"We stripped their ship of weapons…so they used our own defence's tactics against us," Jonathan stated in shock. The Vice Admiral waited until the smoke had cleared and when it had there was no sign of the straw hats ship.

Jonathan walked over to his snail phone and

"Drake report what happen?" Jonathan ordered.

"Sir the straw hats blew up our Seagate, we're just outside but there is no sign of their ship," Drake claimed "should we start a search?"

A smile then appeared on his face.

"No, come back. Have four ships guard and block the Seagate both inside and out," Drake claimed.

"But the pirates will escape," Drake argued.

"No they won't, they haven't' left yet," Jonathan claimed.

"What…how do you know?" Drake asked.

Jonathan glanced over to the massive pile of gold and tressure that was now sitting in the corner of his office; his men had finished moving it in about an hour ago.

"Just a hunch," Jonathan smirked "once the ships are in place see to any repairs that our defences need,"

"What about the Seagate?" Drake asked.

"Not much we can do about that…we'll need a new one made," Jonathan shrugged "come see me when you're done,"

Jonathan hung up and then walked over to his desk and sat down; he looked at the chess board in front of him.

"So they're using one of our abandoned docks to hide their ship…it would take too long to search all of them," Jonathan stated "and they will most likely not make a move with the base on high alert,"

A smile appeared on Jonathan's face.

"The game has gotten interesting," Jonathan claimed "Your move Straw Hat,"

* * *

 _ **1 - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder also known as Shell Shock**_


	55. G8 Pt4

_**A.n I own Nothing**_

* * *

The Straw Hats were sitting around the kitchen table discussing what they should do. During their attempt to leave Navore they had discovered that there supply's and cannon balls had been confiscated, unfortunately so had all the gold they had got from Skypiea. Nami had instantly freaked out and ordered a change of course, thanks to the left over smoke from the deflected cannon balls and the destroyed sea gate they had been able to slip away and hide in a nearby abandoned dock.

Once they were docked the whole crew had moved inside to discus their next move, unfortunately Connor had to be carried in and because he was still having his panic attack it made it worse. He had squirmed and resisted but once inside he ran off to the corner farthest away from the crew and back himself in a corner still shaking in fear.

Nami naturally did not want to leave without the crew's gold, but the others were more concerned with escaping with their lives and the Merry intact.

"Hey Nami are you sure it's safe for us to still be here?" Usopp asked.

"He's right, we should head for open water and get away from here as soon as possible," Zoro agreed.

"We can't, they took my gold," Nami claimed.

"You mean our gold right?" Usopp asked "as in the crews,"

Nami gave Usopp a scary look that made the sniper instantly regret what he had said.

"He's right, we can only hide here for so long," Robin agreed "it won't be long until the bases commander figures out we haven't left and the security will be tighter,"

"So in other words it will be harder to get away," Sanji sighed "if that's the case we should escape while we can, it won't take long to set ships up to block our only exit,"

"Don't you care about the gold? After everything we went through to get it," Nami demanded.

"Well it's not like you did much to help get it...except run away, get eaten by a giant snake and side with Enel," Zoro pointed out "Plus if you think about it, technically Luffy was the one who found it in the first place,"

Zoro very quickly found himself in the receiving end of Nami's anger as she punched the swordsman hard in the head causing several large bumps to appear.

"Any other comments?" Nami asked harshly and glared at the rest of the crew.

'Nami your scary,' Chopper and Usopp thought together.

"Good, now let me make this clear. We are not leaving until we get that gold back," Nami said seriously.

Chopper looked over at Luffy.

"Luffy what do you think about this, should we

"I want the gold...but I also want food," Luffy said "SANJI FEED ME!"

"The Marines took all of our supplies you idiot, we don't have any food left," Sanji pointed out.

"What? Okay guys we can't leave," Luffy declared.

"Finally," Nami said in relief.

"Not until we get our food back and raid there kitchen," Luffy announced.

Nami hit him on the head for that.

"GOLD IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN FOOD!" Nami yelled angrily.

"But Nami...you can't eat gold," Luffy whined "it tastes bad,"

"He is right though, even if we were to leave we wouldn't get far nor survive very long with no food on board," Robin pointed out.

"I'll see if the marines missed something," Sanji said and stood up and began to search the kitchen.

"See food is more important than gold," Luffy said.

Nami sighed.

"Okay then," Nami said "I mean if you really want to leave Luffy we'll leave,"

"Wait…are you just going to give up the gold?" Usopp asked suspiciously "Who are you and what have you done with Nami?"

"Well Luffy is the captain so his word is law," Nami said.

"I mean if he is okay with letting a vast fortune like that be stolen from pirates by the marines and not do anything to get it back that's his decision," Nami explained "and i was going to divide that up equally between us too,"

"You were?" Chopper asked.

"Well once it was traded in for Beli of course," Nami confirmed.

Luffy looked over at Robin.

"Robin how much would gold have given us?" Luffy asked.

"Hard to say...but considering its value and the amount we had...adding in the current exchange rate," Robin started "I would say..."

She did a quick calculation in her head.

"At least two hundred million Beli," Robin estimated.

the Straw Hats jaws dropped.

"THAT MUCH?!" All but Nami, Robin and Connor yelled.

"Well like I said I can't be sure, you would need to get it appraised properly for an exact number but that would be a good estimate. Depending on where we exchange it we may even get more," Robin explained "Some islands are richer than others after all,"

"If we had that much money I could buy some up to date medical equipment," Chopper said happily "and more medicine books,"

"I could get a new fridge with a lock on it...hell i could re-furbish this whole kitchen," Sanji said thoughtfully.

"I could finally get a big bronze statue," Luffy said excitedly.

"Idiot, why would you trade gold for bronze?" Usopp asked.

"Hold on there, before you get too carried away we don't have the gold anymore," Nami pointed out "and since Luffy would rather focus on getting food and running of leaving all that money to the marines, no one will be getting any spending money,"

"I mean what kind of pirate lets the marines take their loot without a fight?" Nami asked.

Luffy instantly stood up.

"Yosh, alright guys change of plan let's get that gold back," Luffy declared "so I can buy a bronze statue,"

"Again that is a downgrade," Usopp said.

"You can spend your share on whatever you want...after the gold has been traded in for Beli and I take 80% of it for my own personal savings," Nami said.

"Yeah after you...WAIT WHATTTT!" Luffy and the others yelled.

"You do not need that much money," Usopp yelled angrily.

"Yeah how is that dividing it up equally?" Chopper demanded.

"Calm down, I was joking. That 80% isn't for personal use, it's for the Merry," Nami claimed.

This seemed to calm everyone down, but the crew looked at her in confusion.

"What do you mean?" Usopp asked.

"Well the Merry has been carrying us all the way from the East Blue. We have been through so much together and with our recent trip up and back from the sky I think it's time we got her looked at," Nami said.

"I see, Usopp's been doing the repairs but they are really only patch jobs," Zoro said.

"It's not my fault, I keep telling you guys I'm not a carpenter or a ship wright," Usopp defended.

"Right so I think we should have the Merry looked at by a professorial and use that 80% to pay for any and all repairs that need to be done," Nami proposed.

"The merry has taken us so far...she's taken care of us all this time. I think it's time we took care of her," Nami said.

"Yeah the Merry is our home," Luffy agreed.

Suddenly he got an idea.

"Hey I know, let's find a ship wright to join us. That way the Merry will always be at her best," Luffy said.

"That's a good idea, I wonder if there are any good places to recruit people like that," Sanji agreed.

"I know one," Robin said.

"Really?" Zoro asked.

Robin nodded.

"Yes it's called Water 7, it's an island that is renowned for having the most talented shipwrights in the world," Robin claimed.

"Really?" Chopper asked with stars in his eyes.

"Yes they take on any kind of job, whether it be from repairs to building new ships. In fact they are the ones the government goes to get there ships built,"

"Should we go there then?" Usopp asked in concern.

"Don't worry they also serve prates as well, basically if you can pay you would be considered a customer," Robin assured.

"How do you know about this place?" Zoro asked.

"Crocodile was often in contact with them and a lot of other organisations I worked for before had business with Water 7 too. I have never been there myself but there ships are said to last far longer than those that are built from other ship yards," Robin claimed.

"Huh...that is a tall claim to be the best ship wrights in the world. Are they really that good?" Luffy asked.

"Well it's said that Rodgers ship, the Oro Jackson was built by a ship wright from Water 7," Robin claimed.

"REALLY?!" Luffy responded with stars in his eyes.

"According to the government yes," Robin confirmed.

"I want the Merry looked at by the guy who built Rodgers ship and I want him on my crew," Luffy said.

"I don't know if that's possible, Rodgers ship was built over 20yrs ago so the person who built it may not be around anymore...they could be retired," Robin said.

"Oh...right," Luffy said disappointingly "but we can still ask right?"

"Luffy these are all good ideas and all bit the fact is we need our gold back first," Nami pointed out.

"And there is the risk that the marines might find the Merry while we're searching for it," Usopp said.

"Where would the Marines even hide the gold anyway?" Chopper asked.

Robin unrolled the map on the table and looked over it, she could see a few places that someone would use to hide gold or stolen good from pirates but only one place really stood out.

"How about here?" She asked and pointed to a storage room that had one entrance.

"It has one entrance and several locks, it could be a vault," Robin said.

"Then that's our best bet, we'll head there and get the gold back," Nami declared.

"What about the Merry?" Usopp asked.

"This is an abandoned dock, I saw some abandoned building supply's," Robin said.

"Abandoned...hey I just had a great idea," Usopp said.

Usopp told the crew his plan and they all got to work, it took the rest of the day to do; Connor recovered from his episode and he then helped the crew out...though he didn't say much but that was normal behaviour for him. Once it was complete the crew looked up and a very fake marine battle ship.

"You really think this is going to work?" Sanji asked sceptically.

"Why not? this is an abandoned dock right it's not out of place," Usopp claimed.

"Still it looks fake," Zoro said.

"Yeah well it's built around the merry and it's really just painted boards of wood put together and attached to the ships railing," Usopp claimed "it's not supposed to be perfect,"

"I guess...I still don't think they would fall for it though," Sanji said.

"Either way, whoever looks at it will just see a marine ship," Luffy said proudly "Hide a tree in a forest; hide a ship amongst ships,"

The crew looked at him in shock.

'Did he just say something smart and profound?' they all thought.

"What...why is everyone looking at me?" Luffy asked when he noticed how everyone was looking at him.

"Alright now that the ship is safe lets go get my gold back," Nami declared.

"Hold on Nami," Robin said "it would best we wait,"

"Why?" Connor asked.

"While I was investigating the base I read the docking logs, there are no ships out on the water between 9pm and 1am," Robin claimed.

This caught the other Straw Hats by surprise, considering the size of the marine base they were in it seemed not only illogical but also downright stupid to not have ships on the water at all times.

"No ships?" Nami asked in surprise.

"No, I don't know why but every night it was the same. It would be best if we waited till later and get the gold and get out during that time," Robin advised.

"I see, if there are no ships then there is nothing to stop us from escaping," Nami said.

"Exactly, if all ships need to be off the water by 9pm that is when we should escape. Let's head out around 8pm, that should give us plenty of time to find the gold and get back here," Robin suggested.

"Right, I'll need to retrieve the waver too," Nami said.

"Okay then lets split up, Nami and Sanji will get the waver while the rest of us except Chopper go after the gold," Usopp said.

"Wait...why aren't I coming?" Chopper asked.

"You're going to stay here and guard the ship," Usopp said.

"Why?" Chopper whined.

"If anyone gets hurt we will have to come back here. It would be better if we knew where you were rather than going to find you in a marine base," Robin explained.

"Oh okay, that makes sense," Chopper agreed.

"Um…how are we going to get across the water?" Nami asked "going through the base would be dangerous and take too long,"

"Uh….well….." Usopp fumbled and looked around the dock quickly.

He noticed a small rowboat that was not in the best condition but it would float.

"How about you use that," Usopp suggested and pointed to the boat.

Nami and Sanji looked at it.

"You're kidding right?" Nami asked.

"If you're carful you can pass by the marine ships without being seen," Usopp said.

"That…doesn't look very safe, it doesn't look like it will float let alone hold two people," Nami said, she then turned to Sanji for help "right Sanji?"

Sanji however was lost in his own little world with hearts in his eyes.

"A romantic night-time boat ride over crystal clear water that shines in the moonlight with Nami-swan….IT'S MY DREAM COME TRUE!" Sanji cried out in happiness as hearts came out of his head.

Nami started at Sanji disgusted, she then turned to Usopp.

"Is there someone else I can go with?" She asked.

Unfortunately for Nami the only other people who could go with her were Zoro and Luffy, however Luffy would attract all kinds of unwanted attention and she did not trust Zoro to row the boat in the opposite direction and robin was needed to read the map, so that left just Sanji. So Nami really had no choice but to put up with the perverted and flirtatious cook.

The rest of the crew minus Chopper also headed out to achieve their respective objectives.

The Straw Hats made their way through the base heading towards the vault, Robin was reading the map and guiding them. They were all on guard and were expecting marines to jump out and stop them at any moment but so far they had not met a single one. There was the odd marine doing some cleaning but that was it.

No one was around and no one tried to stop them.

"Hey is it weird that we haven't come across any marines?" Connor asked as he looked down an empty hallway.

"Nah there probably looking for us elsewhere," Usopp said "plus there are a lot of ships out on the water so there most likely all out there,"

"I hope your right," Robin said.

"Huh...what do you mean?" Luffy asked.

"Never mind, the vault is up ahead," Robin said and rolled up the map.

The continued down the corridor and passed a very large open steel door and inside they were greeted with a giant open room, the only thing inside was a equally giant shiny black vault. It had five enormous gears bronze coloured gears running across the middle and a small grave stone shape control with five knobs at the base.

"Wow...that is a big vault," Luffy said in awe.

"It seems appropriate that they would put our gold in such a location," Zoro said.

The Straw Hats approached the vault and looked up at it.

"So...how do we open it?" Connor asked.

"Easy we break it open," Zoro answered.

"Okay guys, leave this to me," Luffy said.

He wound his arm up and let loose a strong punch at the vaults door, however as soon as his fist hit the vault door it was reflected and bounced off and hit Zoro square in the face. The swords man was thrown backwards and once he had recovered from the attack he grabbed Luffy by the shirt and pulled the captain up to his face.

He was not happy.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Zoro yelled.

"Sorry," Luffy said.

"NO YOUR NOT!" Zoro yelled.

Robin chuckled at the boys antics.

"You can't just force your way through in," Usopp explained as he walked up to the control with the knobs on it.

He looked at it critically and then pulled turned one, one of the gears moved as he turned it. Usopp smiled.

"You have to use these to open it, there's no other way in," Usopp claimed.

"Too bad Nami didn't come with us," Connor said "I bet she could get in easily,"

"I think you'll find that not even pirates would be able to get into that vault easily," a new voice said.

The crew turned and saw that Drake was standing at the entrance and several squads of Marines ran in and pointed there weapons at the crew. None of the Straw Hats seemed particularly bothered by this except Usopp.

Once all the Marines were inside the giant steel doors closed sealing the Straw Hats and the Marines in together.

"This looks familiar," Luffy observed.

"It should, didn't he already try this before?" Zoro asked.

"They say a sign of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result," Robin stated.

"You pirates will not get away with humiliating me, this won't be the same as last time as there are no fake hostages for you to take," Drake said.

Drake then noticed Connor and how close he was standing to Zoro.

"Wait...is that a child...where did he come from?" Drake asked.

Zoro instantly got an idea. He grabbed Connor by the back of his jacket and pulled him close to him.

"This is our hostage," Zoro said "I picked him up while escaping last time,"

"What...another hostage?" Drake gasped.

'He can't be seriously buying this again can he?' Usopp wondered.

"Oi you pirate scum let that boy go now," Drake demanded.

"And loose our leverage? I don't think so," Zoro said with a smirk.

"You did not think we would infiltrate this base without some kind of insurance to keep you at bay did you?" Robin asked.

"Damn pirates," Drake hissed.

"Hey kid are you really there hostage?" Drake called out.

Connor looked at Drake with sad tear filled eyes.

"I...I just want to go home," Connor cried "Please save me,"

The crew could see that Drake was very clearly believing them and considering what to do. Last time it had been a female nurse and this time it was a child, Drake wondered where these people kept coming from.

"Huh...what are you talking about? Connors not a hostage, he's part of my crew," Luffy said.

"LUFFYYYYY!" Zoro, Usopp and Connor all yelled at the same time.

"Wait what?" Drake asked and then he realised what was going on.

"Hang on…this is like last time...you're not really a hostage are you?" Drake accused.

Connor sighed and Zoro let the boys jacket go.

"Oh well...worth a try I suppose," Connor shrugged, his voice went back to normal.

A look of shock and disbelief appeared on Drakes face.

"YOU LIED...YOUR TIRED TO TRICK ME AGAIN DIDN'T YOU!" Drake yelled.

"Well...it's not that hard," Zoro shrugged.

Anger flashed across the Lieutenant's face.

"THERE IS NO HOSTAGE, MEN ATTACK," Drake commanded angrily.

The Marines were happy to oblige and charged at the pirates, Luffy, Robin, Zoro and Connor met them head on.

"Usopp we'll take care of this, get that vault open," Luffy ordered.

"Uh...right, leave it to me," Usopp said.

Usopp pulled out a stethoscope from his bag and put it on; he listened carefully as he turned the first nob. He guessed that this was a combination lock and while he agreed with Connor that Nami would be better suited to opening it he also knew what to listen for as he knew exactly how these kinds of locks worked.

After he herd the first click suddenly one the first Bronze gear came lose and fell to the ground with a loud thud. It nearly landed on Luffy. Usopp looked over his shoulder at the gear in fear.

"Hey watch it Usopp," Luffy said.

"Ahh...sorry," Usopp called back, he then turned back to the vaults controls.

"If I mess up even once...I'll be crushed," Usopp gulped.

He got back to working on cracking the vault and it was not long before the second gear fell followed by the third. Usopp looked up at the forth gear and it was clearly the largest one of the lot, he then looked back over to the battle and was relieved that the rest of the crew were still keeping the maries at bay.

He refocused on his task and the fourth gear fell and finally so did the fifth.

"I did it," Usopp cheered.

However his celebration was short lived as he the door of the vault suddenly started to moan.

"Hmm..." Usopp said and looked up at the door. It was only now that he realised it was not opening.

"Why isn't it opening?" Usopp asked.

Suddenly the door looked like it was off balance and Usopp's eyes went wide.

"Hang on...if the gears fell after they were unlocked...that means...OH CRAP!" Usopp yelled and he shot up and ran.

"RUN AWAY!" Usopp cried as he ran straight through the middle of the battle at top speed.

The crew and the Marines stared stopped fighting and stared watched Usopp run past, it was only when a large shadow fell over them did they too realise what was going to happen. The Marines instantly began to retreat as did Robin, Zoro and Connor.

Luffy however stayed where he was and looked up at the massive vault door that was falling towards him. He didn't move the door crashed on him with a loud thud. the straw hats and the marines stared at the door. However Luffy's laugh could be herd.

"Ha Ha ha...that nearly crushed me," Luffy laughed.

Luffy was in one of the holes that held the gears in place, the heavy door had landed on him but he had stood in one of the few spots and by sheer dumb luck the vault door had not crushed him.

"Idiot," Zoro muttered.

Luffy climbed out of the hole and turned to look at the inside of the vault, his and the rest of the crews faces fell when they saw what was inside. The vault was empty, the only thing that was inside was a picture of a large rare fish hanging of the back of the vault.

"Hey...where's the gold?" Luffy asked.

"It appears we have been tricked," Robin stated.

"What you mean we came here for nothing?" Luffy asked.

"Indeed, it is likely that we were lured here so the marines could ambush us," Robin said "and with or exit blocked and sealed we can't leave. Reinforcements are more than likely on their way,"

"No problem let's just cut the door open and beat up all who try to stop us," Luffy suggested.

"We can't do that;" Usopp yelled "there's way too many of them, not to mention the steel door blocking our way,"

"Sure we can, it's just steel," Zoro pointed out "not that tough if you ask me,"

"Still don't you think that fish up there looks tasty?" Luffy asked and pointed to the picture "I sure would like to eat one someday,"

"THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO THINK ABOUT FOOD!" Usopp yelled.

"That's right you pirates have nowhere to go," Drake said confidently.

Suddenly the steel door behind Drake started to open; the lieutenant turned and looked at the door in shock.

"What? Why is the door opening?" Drake asked "I gave no such order for it to be re-opened.

Once the door was completely opened a smug slimy greyish skinned man with a ponytail walked in. He wore an official Marine over coat and purple clothes underneath; he was flanked by several marines on either side.

"Hey it's Condoriano," Usopp said happily.

"Oi who are you? Who gave you permission to open that door?" Drake demanded.

The man looked at Drake with slimy eyes, he clearly did not care for Drakes outburst despite the fact he was only doing his job.

"Hold your tongue," the man snapped "I am special investigator Commander Shepard from Marine Hq. I am here to conduct official business with your Vice Admiral Jonathans permission,"

"C...C...Commander," Drake stuttered.

"Indeed, don't think I've forgotten how you treated me," Shepard sneered "If you don't want me to court martial you for it then stay back and let me do my job,"

"And what is that...sir?" Drake asked, he had to force the Sir out.

"I am here to apprehend these pirates of course," Shepard said proudly.

"I appreciate your help but it unnecessary my men have the situation under control," Drake assured.

"Oh I am not here to help you; I am here to take over. My men are the best elites Marine Hq has to offer, they are a far superior to your riff-raff you call solders here," Shepard claimed.

"Hey!" A marine yelled out in offence.

"You little boys playing soldiers can just sit back and let the grownups take care of things from here on out," Shepard said ignoring the outburst and the angry looks on the offended solder's faces under drakes command.

Drake glanced around at his men and he could see they were not happy at the commander, he also saw that Shepard had not brought very many men with him.

"Commander I noticed that you did not bring many men with you...would you like us to give you a hand?" Drake asked "I advise you to not underestimate them,"

"Shut up, not one more word!" Shepard shouted "I order you to stay out of this and watch, if you or any of your men disobey then you will all be arrested and taken in for obstructing a senior officer,"

Drake glared at Shepard but he knew he had no choice.

"Very well...Men do not interfere with the commander, his men or the pirates," Drake ordered.

The marines all looked at each other but complied and put their weapons away. Shepard walked towards the pirates with his Marine escort and stopped when he was in the centre of the room.

"We meet again Straw Hat," Shepard said.

"Huh…who are you?" Luffy asked.

Anger flashed across the Commanders face.

"How do you not remember me? I suffered humiliation after humiliation at your crew's hands," Shepard yelled.

"Oh…I remember you, you were in the brig with Zoro and Usopp," Luffy said.

"Yo, Condoriano. It's great to see that you escaped," Usopp said happily and waved at the commander.

"It's good to see your no worse for wear," Robin smiled.

"Why are you on the Marines side Condoriano?" Zoro asked "there is no need for disguises anymore,"

"Disguise?" Drake asked "Wait are you part of their crew too?"

"NO I AM NOT!" Shepard yelled.

Connor had no clue what was going on but he could see whatever the other Straw Hats were doing was annoying him and making him angry.

"Well it doesn't matter, your all going to die here," Shepard claimed.

He snapped his fingers and one of the Maries flanking him holding a large carry case moved forward, he put the case down and opened it revealing parts of something. The Marine quickly put the parts together and they made a comically large bazooka.

Shepard took the Bazooka and aimed it at the Straw Hats.

"Impressed? This is a new Bazooka that the boys back at Hq whipped up. It has the fire power of a small battle ship and they gave it to me to test," Shepard bragged.

"Why would they do that?" Connor asked.

"Yeah dangerous weapons and power don't mix with pure stupidly," Zoro agreed.

"Really?" Connor asked.

"WHOA…THAT'S A BIG GUN! I WANT ONE!" Luffy cried out with stars in his eyes.

"I know right…this thing is huge and it packs a real punch," Shepard said.

"Really...you're so lucky you get to use that," Luffy said.

"I know I have wanted to use it since I first saw the plans for it," Shepard said giddily.

"So cool," Luffy sighed.

"See," Zoro said.

"Okay…point taken," Connor agreed.

"Enough talk I will personally show you this weapons power," Shepard declared.

He pulled the trigger and there was a loud explosion behind him and the marines were blown off their feet. The Straw Hats tilted their heads in confusion.

"Did he just fire on his own men?" Usopp asked.

"Yeah…how did he do that?" Connor asked.

"Commander! Your holding it the wrong way," an annoyed marine said and held up the instruction manual.

Shepard looked at it and realised that he was indeed holding the bazooka back to front.

"Opps," Shepard said.

He then put the Bazooka down, turned it around and pointed at the crew again, however before he could fire it arms sprouted from Shepard's body and took control of him. Shepard turned to the marines and began firing the weapon wildly.

Shepard's marines were blown away and once the path was clear, the arms held the commander next to the Bazooka that was pointing to the ground.

"Wait if you fire it like that…." Shepard started.

But Robin commanded her arms to pull the trigger and the commander and the bazooka shot straight up like a rocket.

"Right shall we go?" Robin asked.

The crew took the opportunity to run out of the vault and pass Drakes remaining Marines, though he did not purse them as they escaped.

"Lieutenant Drake, shall we purse them?" a marine asked.

"No, do not purse those pirates," Drake responded.

"Why not?" The Marine asked.

"Because we have our orders, those are to stand by and watch. We are not allowed to interfere with the Straw Hats or the Commanders operation to capture them," Drake said "these orders came from a special inspector of Marine Hq after all,"

"I suppose but…" the marine said hesitantly.

Suddenly Shepard crash landed from his Bazooka powered flight. He and his Marines took a moment to gather their wits.

"That is what we are doing, besides we should take this opportunity to see just how the best of the best get things done," Drake said with a smirk.

The Bazooka came back down hitting Shepard on the head.

"So far I am not impressed," Drake commented dryly.


	56. G8 Pt5

_**A.n I own Nothing**_

 _ **So I have received a total of 0 suggestions for the New World Arcs and what my readers would like to see in them...I am going to assume that this is because you like where the story is going and have no issues with the way it is being written. So I must be doing something right...good to know.**_

 _ **Please Review**_

* * *

Luffy, Zoro, Usopp, Robin and Connor stood atop of the outer ring of Navore looking down . After they had left the vault they had immediately fled the inner base as it was now on high alert. They had stooped so Robin could look at the map and determine what their next move should be or where the Marines had hidden there gold.

Robin Usopp and Zoro were standing while Luffy was sitting on the edge of the cliff and Connor was squatting next to him.

"Well that was a waste of time," Zoro said.

"Yeah I can't believe that they would trick us like that," Luffy said "There mean, this base is filled with mean people,"

"I can't believe we fell for that trick," Usopp added.

"To be fair we were the ones that assumed that the gold was in the vault. It was the best location to set a trap," Robin said as she observed the map.

"I can't believe how gullible Marine Commanders are," Connor said.

Connor then looked up as Usopp.

"By the way...who was that other guy...Conderano?" Connor asked.

"Oh just some Marine inspector from Hq that I stole his identity from," Robin said casually without looking up from the map.

Connor turned and looked at Robin.

"Then why did they think he was part of the crew?" He asked.

"He was mistaken as one of our crew, I just furthered that with a little lie," Usopp claimed.

"And they believed you?" Connor asked looking back at Usopp.

"Yeah well...the fact that they were on the lookout for unfamiliar faces and very suspicious of pretty much everyone they didn't recognise helped," Usopp smirked.

"Huh...that's really smart of you," Connor said.

"I know they don't call me Usopp the Genius for nothing," Usopp declared.

"Nobody calls you that," Zoro commented.

"EH...YOU'RE A GENIUS?!" Luffy shouted in surprise.

Connor and Zoro sighed.

"Looks like Marines aren't the only ones with gullible leaders," Zoro said.

Connor looked back over towards the base.

"Still how are we going to find the gold?" Connor asked.

"We could just wander round looking for it by searching every room," Luffy suggested.

"That wouldn't be a good idea, with the base on high alert we would have trouble searching. Plus we would miss our opportunity to escape," Robin claimed.

"So where do you think we should look?" Usopp asked "Are there any other vaults on the map?"

"Regrettably no, there are a few lager storage spaces but that is it," Robin said.

"Would the gold be there?" Connor asked.

"I doubt it," Robin answered "it would be unwise to look there anyway,"

"Why?" Zoro asked.

"If it wasn't in the vault than the Marines will now be focusing on those strage areas as that is the most likely place we would look next. If we were to go there we would likely find ourselves in another trap," Robin claimed.

"So where's our gold?" Luffy asked.

Before anyone could answer Zoro suddenly drew his sword.

"Someone's coming," Zoro said.

The rest of the crew listened and they heard a buzzing sound of and engine, it turned out that it was just Nami. After retrieving the wave she and Sanji had gone back to the dock where the Merry was hidden only to discover that the rest of the crew had not returned. Nami had headed out again to help them and along the way she had overheard some marines talk about the trap at the vault and how the crew had escaped.

After a quick explanation of what happened Nami, who was determined not to leave without the gold looked at the map with Robin; but the two could not figure out where else the gold was hidden.

"Aghh...this is so frustrating. Where did the marines hide my gold," Nami said annoyed.

"It's not all yours," Usopp claimed, but he was ignored.

"If we don't find it soon we'll miss our escape window," Nami claimed.

She then looked over at the crew.

"I don't suppose you lot have any idea where to look," she asked.

"We could try the kitchen," Luffy said.

"I don't think the gold is in the kitchen,"

"We really need to reorganise the Merry," Zoro commented.

"Didn't the ship come with a storage space?" Robin asked "For supplies and other things,"

"Yeah but we turned it into sleeping quarters," Connor claimed.

"Really why?" Robin asked.

"The Merry was originally made as a leisure ship for 1 per...you know like small day trips out to sea," Usopp claimed.

"Yeah when we got it there was an argument over who would get the only room," Zoro remembered "in the end we tuned the storage space below deck into a sleeping quarters for the men,"

"Then where did you put the rest of the supplies?" Robin asked.

"In with the helm, it's the reason that there are so many creates and barrels in there," Connor said "the food went in the kitchen...though until Sanji came along it was more like into Luffy,"

"Yeah but that is not much different from now," Zoro joked.

"I see...have you thought about getting a bigger ship?" Robin asked.

"What no," Usopp said offended "Why would we ever do that?"

"It just occurred to me that the Merry may not be big enough. We barely all fit in it now," Robin claimed.

"So? It may be a bit tight but it's just cosy that's all," Usopp snapped back.

"I'm just saying that if Luffy wishes for more people to join his crew then he will need to accommodate them," Robin claimed "and it may very well come to a point where in order to do that a bigger ship would be required,"

"Then any new members will have to put up with being a bit cramped, because we are not changing ships," Usopp declared.

"I hope we don't change ships, i like the Merry," Connor claimed.

"Whether we change ships or not is entirely irreverent to our current situation," Nami said "we need to find the gold,"

"Oi Nami why don't we just as the bases commander?" Luffy asked.

"We can't do that," Nami snapped back.

"Why not?" Luffy asked.

"First off we don't know where he is and secondly he wouldn't tell us even if we did know where he was," Nami said "Plus he is more likely to catch us then help us,"

"I know where he is," Luffy claimed.

Nami stared at him in surprise.

"HOW THE HELL DO YOU KNOW THAT!" Nami yelled.

"Well he invited me into look around, he had medals and this really cool fishing rod and then we started talking about fishing," Luffy said with a smile.

"Let me get this straight….the Vice Admiral who is trying to capture us invited you into his office…AND YOU ACCEPTED!" Nami yelled.

"Well yeah," Luffy answered.

"Why…why would you do that?" Nami asked.

"Well he asked and I didn't want to be rude by saying no," Luffy said.

Nami groaned.

Suddenly Robin realised something.

"Luffy, did you just say the commander of this base had a fishing rod?" Robin asked.

"Yeah, he said he was a keen fisher and that it was his favourite hobby," Luffy claimed.

"I see….I think I just figured out where the Marines put the gold," Robin said as she rolled up the map.

"What do you mean?" Nami asked.

"Who wants to capture us?" Robin asked.

"The Marine commander and all his men," Connor answered.

"Right and in a base this big it would take to long for him to find us by searching it from top to bottom," Robin claimed.

"Well yeah it's not like we're going to stay in one place and let him catch us," Usopp agreed.

"So what would be the most efficient way for the commander to catch us?" Robin asked.

"Have us come to him," Nami answered.

"And since he's a keen fisherman what would be the perfect bait to lure out pirates?" Robin asked.

"Our gold," Zoro answered.

"Exactly, so if the gold was not in the vault then that mean it's most likely with the Commander," Robin theorised.

"Alright here's what we'll do," Nami started.

"Luffy and I will take the waver and go to the commanders office, the rest of you head back to the ship and get it out on the water," Nami ordered "the other ships have already started to dock so we shouldn't have much trouble,"

"Fine but if you take too long we'll leave without you," Zoro said.

Luffy and Nami got on the Waver and zoomed off while Robin, Zoro, Usopp and Connor headed back to where they hid the Merry. They walked along the top of the cliff to avoid being seen, they had to hide a few times to avoid the Marine patrols.

Eventually they got back to the dock and Chopper and Sanji were waiting for them.

"Your back," Chopper cried happily.

"Hey Chopper. Good job guarding the ship," Luffy greeted.

"Shut up, even though I was left alone in enemy territory I was not scared one bit," Chopper cried with tears running down his face "I'm a pirate too,"

"Then why are you crying?" Connor asked.

"I'm not crying….I just have something in my eye," Chopper shot back.

Sanji then came out with hearts in his eyes.

"Nami-Swannnnn are you ready to continue our date?" Sanji asked.

His face fell when he noticed Nami did not return with the others.

"Oh it's just you lot," Sanji said disappointingly "Where's Nami-Swan?"

"She ran off with Luffy, something about going on a starlight ride on the waver and then a midnight swim under the moon," Zoro responded casually.

"NOOOOOO WHYYY!" Sanji cried out as he broke down in tears "Why would the beautiful Nami-Swan leave me for an idiot like Luffy,"

"Zoro Nami didn't say anything about that," Connor pointed out.

"Yeah but it's fun to tease him," Zoro claimed.

"Isn't that mean…toying with Sanji's emotions?" Connor asked.

"Nah he's a big boy, he can handle it," Zoro said "Besides it's not my fault he's love sick,"

The crew boarded and the Merry and got here ready to set out, it was harder than normal due to the fact there was a very bad disguise over the top but they eventually got out of the dock and back out onto the lake.

Like Nami had predicted most of the ships had already returned to their docks and so they were met with no resistance. Sanji however was in the corner squatted down upset with an air of depression around him; he had been no help what so ever in getting the ship ready to go.

Once they were out on the lake Connor walked up to him.

"Sanji…are you alright?" Connor asked.

"No, I can't believe Nami-swan would abandon me like that," Sanji sniffed in response.

Connor rolled his eyes and Zoro came over as he had overheard the cook's complaint.

"Well…it's not entirely out of character," Connor claimed.

"The Kid is right. Why would Nami go for a deadbeat cook like you when she can have the Pirate King, I mean once Luffy finds One Piece he will be the richest man in the world," Zoro said.

This seemed to make Sanji cry even harder.

"Is Luffy really going to be that rich?" Connor asked.

"Well they say no treasure in the world rivals that of Gold Rodgers," Zoro claimed "Luffy will be rich while pervo cook here will be destitute,"

This seemed to snap Sanji out of his depression.

"What was that?" He demanded.

"I said Luffy will be rich and you will be out of a job," Zoro responded.

"Why would I be out of a job?" Sanji demanded.

"Because you with all that money and fame he will be able to get a half way decent cook," Zoro snapped back.

"Maybe he will be able to get Mihawk to replace you," Sanji snapped back "after all the pirate king needs the best swordsmen and that is clearly not you,"

Neither Zoro or Sanji noticed that Connor had left and headed back to where Robin and Chopper were, Usopp had gone to steer the ship.

"THAT'S IT YOUR DEAD!" Zoro yelled.

"I'LL FILLET YOU WITH YOUR OWN SORRY EXESUSE FOR BLADES!" Sanji yelled back as the two began fighting again.

"Sanji's back to normal," Connor claimed as he approached Robin and Chopper.

"It is truly amazing on how they can turn on each other in a spilt second no matter what situation there in," Robin observed.

"I'm working on a cure for stupidity but so far nothing has turned up," Chopper claimed as he watched the fight "should we stop them?"

"Nah they won't hurt each other, just let them work it out of there system or wait until Nami comes back," Connor advised.

Unfortunately Zoro and Sanji didn't work it out of there system like Connor had hoped, instead Chopper shifted into his human form and broke up the fight himself. Though he did get a few scrapes from it. The doctor decided to let Nami deal with they're fights from now on.

As they were floating along the lake Usopp was keeping a look out for Luffy and Nami's return, Usopp spotted them coming across the lake and waved a lantern to signal them. Nami and Luffy climbed aboard the ship.

"Hey guys we got our gold back," Luffy said happily and showed them the huge bag he had.

"Great now we can finally get out of here," Usopp said in relief.

"Yep, though I will miss this place," Luffy said.

"Why? We're surrounded by marines, being hunted by a vice admiral that is super smart and most likely strong," Usopp pointed out.

"I know, it's been a lot fun right," Luffy agreed.

"We can have fun in a safer environment," Usopp muttered.

"Anyway we should leave while we have the chance," Nami said.

"Hey...Robin i thought you said there were no ships on the lake after 9pm," Connor said.

"There aren't there all recalled for some reason," Robin said.

"Well...what's that one doing out here then?" Connor asked and he pointed to the other side of the lake.

The crew looked out and saw a second ship, it was a marine battle ship and the only other ship on the lake. Nami grabbed Usopps binoculars and looked through them.

"It looks like it's heading to the sea gate," Nami observed.

"You think there trying to stop us?" Chopper asked.

"Myabe..."

"It's only one ship, we can take it," Zoro said confidently.

"No, we can use this," Nami said "we don't know where the currents are and i can't see them in the dark. If that ship is heading to the sea gate why not let it show us the way,"

"But Nami-swan, won't they try to stop us?" Sanji asked.

"The Merry is smaller and faster, once in the currents we'll have a head start and get out of their rage and once we're on the open sea they'll never catch us," Nami declared.

Chopper steered the ship so it was in lined with the marine battle ship and it wasn't long before the straw hats found the current and quickly caught up to the marine ship. On the battle ship the captain was looking for any sign of the straw hats but had yet to find any.

He looked over his men on deck who were all looking out vigilantly for the straw hats but so far no one had seen them.

"Any sign of them...Has anyone of you spotted them yet?" The captain called out.

A chorus of "No's" and "Not yet" was his response.

"Damn where are they?" the captain asked.

Suddenly a Marine ran up to him.

"Captain we're being tailed...look," the marine said and pointed to the fake battle ship that was nearly on top of them.

"That's...an odd looking battle ship," the captain stated.

"Think it's one of Navores?" the marine asked.

"If it is then Commander Shepard was right about this place. They really are lazy," the captain said "have you tried to signal them?"

"Yes but...they're not responding," the marine claimed.

"What? Don't they even know basic navel communications here?" the captain asked.

"Uh...Captain...there catching up real fast," the Marine said with a hint of worry.

Before the captain could response the Merry burst out of the battle ships frame shocking the Marines; and thanks to its small size and the current it sailed past the marine ship.

"Thanks for showing us the currents, we would have had a hard time getting out," Nami said as the Merry sailed past.

The captain started at the straw hats in shock but quickly recovered from it.

"OPEN FIRE!" he ordered.

"Sir Look!" a marine yelled and pointed to the back of the ship.

The captain turned and saw what was left of the poorly made frame of the Merry's disguise collide with his ship and get tangled up in it.

"Huh...that worked surprisingly well," Robin commented as she had seen the whole thing.

* * *

 _Jonathan's Room_

Up on the balcony Jonathan and Commander Shepard had seen the whole thing. They had originally come out here to watch Shepard's attempt to capture the straw hats. Jonathan had a suspicion that he would fail as these pirates were proving to have an insane amount of luck.

However after just seeing what had happened to the commanders latest strategy Jonathan could not help but laugh while the Marine Inspector stood there slack jawed and stunned at what he saw.

"T...T...That other ship...was a disguise?" Shepard exclaimed.

Jonathan turned to look at the commander still a bit giddy from his laughter.

"oh come now surly you didn't believe for on second that something like that was an actual battle ship," Jonathan said "much less one of ours,"

The commander glared at him but said nothing.

'Given this bases reputation for being lazy it wouldn't have surprised me,' Shepard thought.

Jonathan turned back to the lake and looked at the water, it was very very low. He pulled out a pocket watch and looked at it.

"Should be about time, i guess this time its check mate," Jonathan said.

"What are doing? There escaping...why aren't you opening fire?" Shepard demanded.

"Calm down the Straw Hats aren't going anywhere," Jonathan claimed.

Shepard's anger was replaced with confusion.

"There...not?" he asked.

"No, did you wonder why no other ship was on the lake?" Jonathan asked.

'Because you're all lazy and incompetent and sorry excuses for Marines,' Shepard thought.

"Actually yes," Shepard answered.

"It's because it is about this time the fangs on Navore show themselves," Jonathan claimed.

"Fangs of Navore...is that some kind of code for a secret weapon?" Shepard asked.

"In a way...just watch," Jonathan said.

Shepard and Jonathan watched the Merry as it sailed onwards, however just as the sea gate was in sight the merry suddenly ran aground as the water beneath it seemed to drain out. The ship got caught on the reef and caused a huge hole to be made in the hull.

The straw hats were thrown around a bit and since there was no more water the Merry would not sink but could no longer sail or escape.

"What the hell just happened?" Shepard asked.

"The water drains out at this time every night; normally we have the sea gate closed so there is some water left... obviously it's not that much. but since they destroyed the sea gate we can't keep what little water we would have had in...so the lake completely dries up," Jonathan explained "apart from one or two puddles of course,"

"This is why there are no ships on the lake at night," Shepard realised.

"Yep we recall all the ships before this happens. The lake bed is uneven so it's safer to have no ships out at all than a few smaller ones," Jonathan claimed.

Jonathan turned and walked into his office; he picked up his Den-Den Mushi and dialled a number.

"Hello, communications...I'm going to need the Den-Den Mushi connected to the bases speakers," Jonathan requested.

* * *

 _Going Merry_

Down in the lake the straw hats were very much surprised when there ship had grounded itself, they had been escaping when they had hit the rocks on the lake floor and a huge hole had been made in the side hull. Naturally water had started to flow in but it quickly stopped, upon investigation the crew were very surprised to see the reason for that was because the lake had been drained of all but a few puddles.

Luffy had been thrown off his special seat and was attempting to swim and crying out for help; it didn't look like he had noticed the lack of water yet.

Zoro commented on how dumb he was. Meanwhile Nami was panicking, they couldn't move without water and now there only escape root had dried up, plus it wouldn't be long before the marines came to arrest them all.

"Well...this is troubling," Robin said "But it does explain why there are no ships out on the lake at night,"

Connor looked down at the base of the lake bed from the deck of the ship.

"I don't get it...where did the water go?" Connor asked "Can the ocean dry up?

"No Connor it can't," Robin answered

"But…then where did the water go?" Connor asked looking up at her.

"It drained out," Robin claimed.

"Drained out?" Connor asked confused.

"Yes, you remember that big metal Sea gate?" Robin asked.

Connor nodded in response.

"That is the reason the lake is dry. You see the oceans tide is governed by the moon, during the day the tide flows towards land, but at night it reverses," Robin explained "because this island has a lake connected to the sea at night the water flows out of the lake draining it,"

"It is likely that they used the Sea Gate to minimise the water that gets drained out by the evening tide," Robin theorised "This way they always have water in the lake...but since we destroyed the sea gate there was no way to stop the tide from draining the lake,"

"I think I get it...But that doesn't seem very efficient for a Marine Base," Connor said.

"Perhaps not but it can be used strategically, after all they caught us," Robin claimed "Using the natural forces of the work to your advantage is a very clever tactic...everyone on this earth relies on the tide...both pirates and Marines. However to harness and use it against threats is truly remarkable,"

"So if we wait till morning...will the lake fill up again?" Connor asked.

"Oh yes, most defiantly. But I doubt the Marines will give us that long and even if they did we will not be going anywhere with that large hole in Merry's hull," Robin claimed.

Suddenly Luffy shot up and looked around.

"Land...I"M ALIVE!" he cried out.

"Did he just notice he wasn't drowning?" Usopps voice shouted annoyed.

Luffy looked around confused.

"Huh...where did the water go?" Luffy asked.

Connor sighed and Robin chuckled. Suddenly several search lights flashed on and they all were aimed directly at the Merry. The crew looked up at them and had to wince as the lights were too bright.

"Attention Straw Hat Luffy," Jonathan's voice echoed out through the bases outer speakers "You and your crew have done well to survive here at Navore. But unfortunately our game is at an end,"

"As of now you no longer have anywhere left to run, my marines are on the cliffs and my bases cannons are all pointed at your ship. Since only you and Roannoa Zoro have bounties, since that is the case if you surrender now I promise you that the rest of your crew will go free,"

"Wait...what's he mean by that?" Nami asked.

"I see...the Marines are really on interested in Pirates with Bounties," Robin said.

'That's a good thing right...maybe we should take them up on that,' Nami thought. She did not want to leave Luffy but at the same time it was the best offer they had.

"You and your gold will be taken back to Marine Hq to face judgement," Jonathan said.

"LIKE HELL!" Nami screamed.

"You have one hour to decide otherwise I will open fire, destroy your ship and everyone on it. If you attempt to run the result will be the same," Johnathon said before a click was herd indicating the end of his speech.

The crew began discussing what to do, Jonathan's offer was tempting especially if it meant that only Luffy and Zoro would be taken into custardy. None of the Straw hats wanted that to happen but when the alternative was to be blown up by all the bases cannons...there really was not much choice.

"So...what do we do?" Usopp asked.

"We're not surrendering," Nami said fireclay.

"Yeah but...i don't want to be blown up," Usopp said.

"Suck it up, you'll be fine," Nami said uncaringly.

"I WILL NOT!" Usopp yelled back.

"Nami's right we shouldn't surrender," Luffy agreed "No self-respecting pirate would do that, we have our pride after all,"

"So what do we do? We are stuck with no water and a huge hole in the ship with every single cannon and marine in this fortress pointing at us," Robin stated.

Usopp looked over at Robin.

"Surrendering suddenly just got more appealing," Usopp muttered.

"NO!" Nami said and slammed her fist on the deck getting everyone's attention.

"We have been in worse situations than this, we have always fought our way out and that is not going to change now. We took on a Shichibukai and came out on top, if we can beat Crocodile who controlled sand in the deserts of Alabasta where he had the advantage than we can beat some upstart marine in a jump suit," Nami said determinedly.

"We are The Straw Hat Pirates and we will let these Marines know exactly who they are dealing with and why we should be feared," Nami declared.

"YEAH LET'S SHOW THEM!" Luffy cheered.

"Right never give up, Never Surrender," Usopp agreed, gaining his confidence back.

The rest of the crew agreed, having there spirts rallied and lifted by Nami's passionate speech.

"Especially when it comes to my gold," Nami said.

The crews faces all fell.

"Wait...that's why you don't want to surrender?" Connor asked.

"Of course those marines are not taking a single ounce of my gold, you lot will fight them to the death before I let that happen," Nami said.

"Fight you own battles," Zoro said.

Nami hit him on the head for that.

"Should have known," Usopp sighed "she doesn't care about Pirate pride or weather we survive or not...she just cares about the gold,"

"That's not true, I care about you lot," Nami said.

"Really?" Sanji asked hopefully.

"Of course who would carry my gold for me if you lot weren't here?" Nami asked.

"WE ARE NOT YOUR PORTERS!" Zoro, Usopp, Chopper and Luffy yelled at the same time.

"Nami-Swaaannnnn. I'll carry you to the ends of the earth," Sanji sang with hearts in his eyes.

"Thanks but I think I'll walk," Nami commented.

"You do realise unless we think of something we're not going anywhere and the Maries will get our gold as well as our lives," Robin pointed out.

The crew sat down on the deck and thought about their situation and anything they could do but nothing came to mind.

"Oh I know...why don't we go out the same way we came in," Luffy suggested.

"You mean fall from the sky?" Connor asked.

"Yeah we fly out," Luffy agreed with a big smile.

Nami sighed; Luffy's stupidity knew no bounds.

"Yeah sure...lets fly out," Nami said sacristy "and how do we do that?"

"We use that big octopus balloon thing," Luffy claimed "it held our ship once so it should be able to do it again,"

"That's...not an entirely bad idea," Sanji admitted.

"Except we don't have that octopus anymore," Zoro claimed.

"I have it," Luffy claimed.

"You do...where?" Usopp asked.

Luffy reached into his pants and filled around in them for a moment before pulling out the Balloon Octopus.

"Right here," Luffy said with a smile.

"WHY THE HELL WERE YOU KEEPING IT IN THERE?!" Sanji yelled.

"Huh...what are you angry about?" Luffy asked innocently.

He then turned to Nami and held the squid out.

"Here you go," he said.

"I AM NOT TOUCHING THAT!" Nami yelled.

"Umm...I have a question..." Connor spoke up.

"What?" Zoro asked.

"How are we going to make that octopus fly?" Connor asked.

The crew looked at him and realised that they had no idea how to re-inflate the octopus. They let out collective disappointing sigh.

"Well...there goes that plan," Sanji sighed.

"Maybe not..." Nami said seriously.

"You mean...we can use this squid to escape?" Chopper asked.

"Well...in they we could...Balloons float with hot air right," Nami stated "if we could get enough hot air to fill the octopus up and somehow launch ourselves into the air again...it should float,"

"But where are we going to do that?" Chopper asked.

"Oh...I have some flame dials and the wind dials are still on the bottom of the ship," Usopp said helpfully.

"But we still need to launch the merry, it won't work without the launch," Nami claimed.

"Hey Usopp...back in the cells when we were rescuing you and Zoro...didn't you say you had an Impact dial?" Sanji asked.

"Huh...yeah I do," Usopp said.

"Could we use that?" Sanji asked.

"Of Course...if it had enough energy," Nami nodded.

"I used it to take some hits from the marine's earlier but...maybe we should have Luffy punch it just encase," Usopp said.

"Okay so we have a plan," Nami said triumphantly "get to work everyone,"

The crew immediately began preparations, Sanji, Zoro, and Chopper with the help of robin's devil fruit power managed to stretch the Octopus and tie it down so it would carry the ship.

Usopp collected the Wind Dials from the base of the merry and handed them and some flame dials out to the rest of the crew, Luffy gave the impact dials a few punches as well just to make sure they would have enough lift.

Robin set up several hands to hold all the wind dials and use them while she herself Connor and Nami used the flame dials to inflate the octopus, slowly the balloon began to take shape.

"It's working...its actually working," Nami said happily.

Usopp had been dragged down to the huge hole in the merry and was forced to be the one to activate the impact dial. He was not happy about it but he could fight against the combined strength of Luffy, Zoro, Sanji and Chopper and they were waiting for Nami to let them know when to launch the ship.

"I don't want to do this," Usopp cried.

"It's your dial," Zoro pointed out.

"But my arm could be blown off," Usopp argued.

"You don't know that," Sanji said.

"Yes I do," Usopp responded.

"That's okay Usopp, if that happen chopper is here and he can just fix your arm for you," Luffy smiled "Right Chopper,"

"Um...yeah...sure," Chopper agreed hesitantly.

"Okay launch the ship now!" Nami voice cried out.

"NOOO!" Usopp cried as he was forced to press his hand against the ground.

The moment he did a huge explosion occurred and the merry shot off the ground soaring into the air.

* * *

 _Jonathans Balcony_

Jonathan was watching from his balcony of his office, he had suspected the straw hats would try something but he had not expected them to launch there ship straight up into the sky. He like all the other marines were incredibly shocked at what they had seen.

"H...H...H...How..." Shepard stuttered.

"Huh...so there ship really dose fly with a giant octopus...looks I owe Roanna Zoro an apology," Jonathan said.

"YOU KNEW!" Shepard yelled.

"Well...Roanona Zoro and Luffy did say they're ship flew with a giant octopus. I thought they were on some kind of hallucinogenic," Jonathan admitted sheepishly "I should retract that from my report,"

"THE PIRATES ARE ESCAPING AND YOU'RE THINKING ABOUT PAPER WORK!" Shepard yelled.

"Well I can't very well file a faulty report now can I?" Jonathan said "that would make me look bad,"

"Fine if you won't stop them then i will," Shepard snapped.

He ran into Jonathan's office and then came back out with his Bazooka; he took aim at the Merry.

"Um...Commander I don't think you should..." Jonathan started.

But Sharped fired and the missile flew through the air towards the merry, unfortunately Shepard was aiming where the merry was and not where it was going to be and it ended up hitting one of the higher cannons. An unexpected side effect was the force from the explosion gave the Merry a boost and it flew over the outer wall and further up into the sky leaving the marine base behind.

In a manner of seconds the pirates were out of range.

"I was going to say not to worry because they weren't going to make it over the outer wall...but you just gave them the extra boost they needed," Jonathan sighed.

Anger flashed across Shepard's face, he had had enough of the Vice Admirals attitude and threw his Bazooka on the ground in rage.

"I am reporting this to Hq when i am done none of you will ever serve in any base again, you'll all be dishonourably dismissed," Sharped claimed.

"Okay you do that…just be sure to mention how you interfered with capturing the pirates and that it was your missile that allowed them to escape," Jonathan said casually "oh and let's not forget you ordered my marines to not do their jobs under threat of court martial,"

"How dare you, I am a marine inspector and you will show me the respect I deserve," Shepard demanded.

"Oh you mean you don't like our Base?" Jonathan asked.

"No I do not, I will go up to the Admirals and declare that I am Commander Shepard and this is my least favourite Marine base on the Grand Line(1)," Shepard declared.

Just then Jessica came up behind him and hit the commander on the back of the head with a frying pan knocking the annoying Marine inspector out. She was holding a serving tray with cover over the top.

"Well...you defiantly deserved that," Jonathon commented.

He then looked to his wife.

"What are you doing up here?" Jonathan asked.

"I came to bring you a snack," Jessica claimed and put the tray down on the table. She lifted the cover to reveal a bowl of hot mixed vegetables with lots of Broccoli.

Jonathan groaned.

"Now don't be like that, veggies are good for you," Jessica claimed.

"I know," Jonathan sighed. He then turned to look back out on the horizon in the direction that the straw hats had gone.

Jessica walked over and stood next to him.

"You weren't actually trying to catch those pirates were you," Jessica asked.

"Not really, I like peace and it was clear that they didn't come here intentionally. I was just putting on a show for those who wanted us shut down," Jonathan said.

"I thought so; won't the Admirals be upset that they got away?"

"Well technically it was Shepard's interference that let them escape, besides my captains and Drake have been keeping constant records and reports of how we handled the situation, not to mention we have the security footage to back us up," Jonathan said "if anyone's going to be in trouble it will be Shepard for his meddling,"

"Well as long as he gets what he deserves," Jessica said.

"Hmm...speaking of...please don't tell Drake I was not really trying to capture them...you know how he gets," Jonathan begged.

"I won't...if you eat your broccoli without complaint for the next month," Jessica smiled.

"I suppose I have no choice," Jonathan sighed.

* * *

 _ **(1) A famous line from the Mass Effect series that I just had to put in.**_


	57. Foxy Pirates Pt 1

_**A.n I own Nothing.**_

 _ **Alright here we are the Foxy Pirates Arc...yay. I have to be honest, I personally did not like this arc very much and for the longest time I thought it was filler and the G8 arc was cannon. This is not only because the G8 arc was so good and brilliantly well written, the anime version of the Foxy Pirets was a bit all over the place and most of the anime on this arc was in fact filler...hell the whole arc felt like filler.**_

 _ **The story, characters and even a majority of the Davy Back Fights in the anime were all filler, so having seen the anime and read the manga of this Arc I have decided to go with the Manga version. The Davy Back Fights will follow the rules and the events in the Manga only. So only the Boat Race, the Groggy Ring and the Captains fight will be appearing in this arc, The results will also be the same as they were in the manga.**_

 _ **That being said the Foxy Pirates arc did foreshadow certain events and introduce elements that would play a major role in the coming arcs, particularly those revolving around Robin. I have tired to introduce some of these elements subtly over this and the last few chapters; focusing on Usopps reluctance to fight and Robin attempting to build a relationship with the crew.**_

 _ **I hope I have been able to do that successfully, if not let me know and I will work on it.**_

 _ **As always Please Review**_

* * *

The Merry flew through the air, having escaped from Narvoe. The Crew had enjoyed the scenery after taking off, Usopp wanted to begin repairs on the Ship as possible as he was not sure how long they would be in the air for and once they hit the ocean surface the Merry would sink.

Since it was dark he and Chopper started reaping the inside of the ship first and once that was done he moved to the outside using his grappling hook and Robin used her powers to hold a lantern so the sniper could see what he was doing.

Once he was done the straw hats went to bed, they got up early the next morning to watch the sun rise in the air and it was a beautiful and breathtaking sight. Nami also informed them that they were still off course but she was confidant once they landed they would be able to get back on course.

Since there was not much to do on the ship as the repairs had been done and the crew could not do much until they landed again Robin decided now would be a good time to start Connors education, she pulled Sanji into the kitchen to talk to him as she knew the cook wanted to also teach Connor his trade.

"Sanji since there is not much to do on the ship today I was going to start teaching Connor," Robin said.

"That's a good idea," Sanji agreed.

"Yes I know you also want to teach him how to cook as well," Robin said.

Sanji nodded.

"Yeah cooking's a useful skill and as much as I hate to think about it but….if anything happens to us Connor will stand a better chance if he knows how to cook," Sanji said.

"I agree, however I was wondering where you were planning on starting," Robin said "he can't read and I don't think he even understands numbers either,"

"I know…I was just going to have do minor things…like cut up vegies or peel potatoes," Sanji said "he already knows how to use a sword so he shouldn't have too much trouble with that,"

"That is very basic, don't you think?" Robin asked.

"The basics are the best place to start," Sanji claimed "I suppose I could teach him how to make tea and coffee as well,"

"How were you planning to teach him?" Robin asked.

"I was just going to have him peel things for me and help me closer to dinner," Sanji said "He can learn a lot by just watching,"

"I see….." Robin said thoughtfully.

"Look why don't I keep him on minor kitchen jobs until his reading improves. Once it dose and he has a better undersetting of numbers then i can give him some cooking books to study and I can start teaching him how to make things," Sanji suggested.

"I think that would be best, though I do request that you include kitchen safety as well," Robin said "We don't need him burning down the ship,"

"Don't worry, Connor won't be doing any actual cooking until I am satisfied he knows all the rules of Kitchen safety," Sanji assured.

"Good, then I had better get started," Robin said.

She walked towards the door, however before she opened it she turned back to look at the cook.

"By the way, can we use the kitchen to do our work?" Robin asked "It has a table after all,"

"Sure, I'll make sure the others don't come in," Sanji said.

Robin nodded, she walked out and headed straight to the cabin passing the rest of the crew who were still enjoying the fact that they were flying. In the cabin robin walked over to where she had stashed the early learning books and grabbed an ABC book, a Counting with numbers book and the chalk board with some chalk.

She then headed back to the kitchen and set up. Before going out on deck.

"Connor come can you help me with something in the kitchen?" Robin asked.

"Um….sure," Connor responded. He really wanted to stay out on the deck but if Robin needed his help he would not refuse her.

"Huh….you need help with something Robin?" Usopp asked "Chopper and I can help,"

"No thank you, Connor will be enough," Robin said.

Connor walked over to Robin and she took the boy with her into the kitchen, as they went in Sanji came out and shut the door.

"Hey none of you idiots are to go in there until they come out," Sanji declared.

"What? But what if I get hungry?" Luffy asked.

"Then you can wait till Lunch like a normal person," Sanji scolded.

"When will they come out?" Chopper asked.

"Who knows they could be in there the whole day," Sanji sighed.

"What could that woman possibly need the kid for the whole day for?" Zoro asked.

"She's starting to teach Connor how to read," Sanji said "Since it's his first lesson it will probably take a while,"

The crew started at the cook and they all understood.

"Okay we won't go in the kitchen today," Nami said.

"I'm also going to start teaching him how to cook as well," Sanji claimed.

"Okay I won't ask for food today," Luffy said.

"I'm sure Robin will want Connor to have a break or something during the day, when that happens I can whip up some snacks to tide everyone over," Sanji claimed.

The crew nodded befreoe breaking up and started to do there own things, though most of them returned to watching the view as they were still flying….Zoro sat down and fell asleep.

* * *

 _In the kitchen_

Robin was standing in front of the chalk board trying to explain the alphabet to Connor.

"Alright let's begin, do you remember last time I explained the Alphabet to you?" Robin asked.

"Yes," Connor answered.

"Good," Robin responded and she wrote the alphabet on the chalkboard.

"Now all words are a made up of a combination of letters from the Alphabet," Robin said "there are 26 letters in total. On their own they are nothing but letters, but put them tighter in a certain way,"

Robin turned wrote her name on the chalk board.

"And they become a word," Robin claimed.

Connor looked at the board in confusion; he did not understand the word that Robin had written.

"But….I don't know what word you wrote," Connor said.

"the first part of learning how to read or write is learning to understand and recognise all the letters in the alphabet, once you do that it is a matter of learning witch letters make out which word," Robin explained "that is called Spelling,"

"They all just look like strange lines and scribbles to me," Connor said quietly.

"I know, it's like that for everyone, fortunately I have a picture book that will help," Robin said.

He picked up the ABC book and walked over and sat next to Connor, she opened the book to page with the letter H on it and there was a picture of a house.

"This book will break down each letter and has an easily recognisable picture starting with each letter, it will help you learn and remember the alphabet," Robin said.

"But…I can't read," Connor said.

"There is no need for any reading, you just look at the picture associated with each letter," Robin assured "let's go through it together,"

Robin sat with Connor as he looked through the ABC picture book, so far the lesion was going a lot smoother than the one she had tried to give him right before there adventure in Rainbow Mist; this was not only due to the aid of a picture book but also the fact that no Marines were attacking at them.

Every now and then Connor would look over at the door fearfully that one of the crew was going to come in and catch Robin trying to teach him something he shouldn't be learning. Just like Robin suspected Connor was able to recognise several of the pictures in the book, like the Bird on the page for B and the Egg on the page for E.

Robin kept the lesson going until Sanji knocked on the door and asked if he could start preparing lunch, Connor looked towards the door in fear upon hearing Sanji was outside and coming in. Robin seeing Connors fear agreed to take a break and packed away everything she had brought in and hid the books and chalk board, once everything was hidden away Robin let Sanji in and she and Connor walked out to leave the cook to do his work.

Once they were on deck Connor was about to go and join Luffy and Usopp in whatever the two were doing but Robin stopped him.

"Connor, after lunch we'll start on numbers," Robin said.

"Numbers?" Connor asked in confusion "what about the letters?"

"I think we've done enough of that today," Robin said.

"But I still don't know them...or recognise them," Connor said worriedly.

He was afraid that because he had not been able to understand the alphabet on the first try Robin would not want to teach him anymore.

"Connor you're not going to be able to read after your first lesson, it takes time. Numbers are equally important as letters and only once you learn both will you be able to read," Robin said gently.

"What about writing...you're going to teach me that too right?" Connor asked.

"Yes but you need to be able to read first, once you can read and I am satisfied with your reading level we can start on writing," Robin said.

"Will it be harder than reading?" Connor asked.

"In some ways yes, but learning to read is the first step," Robin said "and there is no rush, you will pick both reading and writing up in time,"

"Okay," Connor said understanding.

"D...Do you really think I can do it through?" Connor asked "Read I mean,"

"Of course you can and once you do you will be able to understand the world a lot better and new experiences will be open to you," Robin said with a smile "now go play and we'll start on numbers after lunch,"

Connor nodded and ran off to join Luffy and Usopp in whatever game they were playing. After everyone had finished lunch and Sanji had washed up and put the dishes away Robin and Connor were back in the kitchen again only this time Connor was leaning numbers. Like before Robin explained their importance and had provided a picture book for him to look at.

Robin went through the book with Connor and Connor was very relieved that he only needed to learn ten numbers 0-9. Despite there being significantly less numbers to learn than the alphabet Connor still found it hard as the pictures in the number book were not as helpful as the pictures in the alphabet book.

After another few hours Connor was just starting to understand Numbers when Sanji knocked on the door and informed them that he needed to start preparing for dinner. Like at lunch Robin packed away the chalkboard and the books before letting the cook in.

"Whoa...where are you going?" Sanji asked as he grabbed Connors hood as the boy tried to leave.

"Outside with the others," Connor said "while you cook,"

"Not tonight you're not, your helping me," Sanji said.

Connor froze and looked up at Sanji in fear.

"W...What?" he asked.

"Yep, I've decided I'm going to teach you how to cook," Sanji said "starting from now you will help me prepare dinner every night,"

Connor looked at Robin for help, however the archaeologist merely smiled.

"Have fun boys," she said and walked out leaving Connor with Sanji.

"Right let's get started," Sanji said as he took off his jacked and rolled up his sleeves.

"First things first, take off your hoodie and wash your hands in warm soapy water," Sanji instructed "this has to be done every time before you even think about touching food,"

Connor gulped in fear but did what he was told none the less, he had had his own very bad experience with cooking and the last time he tried it he had failed and had been severally punished for it and he had no desire to repeat that experience. Connors first cooking lesson was not as bad as he thought, Sanji showed him how to peel vegetables and cut them up, before having him watch as the cook went through a step by step process on what he was doing.

Later after dinner the while everyone was still up and after Connor had been sent to bed the crew gathered around the table at talk about Connors first lessons.

"Hey, how did it go?" Nami asked.

"He has a very long way to go," Robin said.

"But he'll learn, right?" Luffy asked.

Robin nodded.

"Yes it will take time but he will learn," Robin agreed.

"So will you need the kitchen all day tomorrow?" Sanji asked.

"No, once we land I will only spend a few hours a day with him...After breakfast until lunch should do," Robin said.

"But that's only about three or four hours," Chopper pointed out "Is that enough time?"

"No, I would most certainly like more time with him however he was very agitated after the first two hours. It was like he was waiting for one of you to come in,"

"Not surprising, he told us its taboo for slaves to learn how to read," Sanji claimed.

"Speaking of...how did the cooking lesson go?" Robin asked.

"Let me put it this way...you know those chips we had for dinner?" Sanji asked.

"Yeah they were great," Luffy said happily.

"They were from Connor's attempt at peeling the potatoes," Sanji claimed.

"Really?" Zoro asked.

"Yeah, his peels were chunky and only a small amount of potato was left afterwards. It was really just scraps and a small mouthful, hardly usable at all; I just fired them up," Sanji claimed "and don't get me started on what he did to the carrots,"

"What exactly did you have him do?" Nami asked.

"Nothing much, just peel vegetables and finally chop them and the herbs," Sanji said "I also had him watch me make a few things,"

"You use a knife to peel vegetables right, maybe I can teach him some control in sword practice," Zoro offered "after all i knife is still a blade,"

"It might help what would you use?" Sanji asked.

"Well every has trees, the next island we land on I'll cut a branch or two and he can use the stumps as practice," Zoro said.

"How will that help?" Nami asked.

"I'll make him use his sword to peel off the thin layer of bark, leaving the wood intact," Zoro said "it will be like your vegetables...only bigger,"

"That...could actuality work," Sanji agreed.

"Plus it will be good precision training and more precise blade control," Zoro added.

"Alright, in the mean time I will just have Connor cut things like meat and vegies," Sanji said.

* * *

The next day the Merry landed back in the ocean with a loud splash, thankfully the repairs that Usopp had done on the hull was holding and the ship did not instantly sink. Connor and Robin were in the middle of a lesson when the Merry hit the sea and they ran out to see what had happened.

The Octopus who had carried them from the sky and out of Navore landed in the ocean and swam away. Luffy spied and Island in the distance and pointed it out.

"Nami look an Island," Luffy cried out.

Nami came over and looked at it, it was fairly close and they could get to it within an hour or two. Nami checked Log Pose and found it was pointing in the opposite direction.

"Is that our next destination?" Luffy asked excitedly.

"No, the log is pointing the other way," Nami said.

"But there's an Island right there," Luffy claimed.

"I know, we got blown way off course coming down from the sky and we didn't check the direction were heading when we flew out that marine base either," Nami said.

"Aww…does that mean we have to go back?" Luffy whined.

"No it's probably better if we head to that island, we're low on food and I don't know how far our original destination is from here," Nami claimed "We'll just wait for the log to reset at this one and continue from there,"

"Alright adventure!" Luffy cheered.

"Miss Navigator, how long will it take to reach the Island?" Robin asked.

Nami looked up and over at Robin.

"About two hours," Nami estimated.

Robin nodded.

"Come on Connor we still have some time," Robin said to Connor who was standing next to her.

Connor nodded and walked back into the kitchen.

"Hold on, what if we go off course again?" Usopp asked "we're not following the Log here,"

"I'll steer the ship in while I'm in the kitchen, you just tell me which way," Robin said.

"But how will you hear my instructions?" Nami asked.

Suddenly an ear appeared on the palm of her hand.

"AGHHH!" Nami screamed.

"Like that," Robin said "it works like a regular war so try not to scream too much,"

"That's Cool…..hey can you make an eye appear on my forehead?" Luffy asked.

"Yes I can, I will be able to see out of it as well," Robin said.

"Awesome make one appear here," Luffy demanded eagerly and pointed to his forehead.

"Why would you want a third eye?" Nami asked "you won't be able to see out of it,"

"Because having three eyes is better than two," Luffy claimed.

Nami sighed, Robin merely smiled and an eye appeared on Luffys forehead.

"There you go," Robin said and walked back into the kitchen.

"Thanks Robin," Luffy called after her and he ran over to Usopp.

"He Usopp….look what I got," Luffy said.

Usopp saw the eye and it blinked at him, the sniper screamed and fainted from Luffy having a third eye. The rubber Captain laughed and then ran to find chopper to show him, the reindeer doctor freaked out at seeing Luffys third eye as well.

In the kitchen Robin had sprouted some arms near the Merrys rudder control so she would be able to steer the ship and teach Connor as well, a few minutes later suddenly started to giggle

"What's so funny?" Connor asked.

"Oh nothing," Robin answered with a smile.


	58. Foxy Pirates Pt 2

_**A.n I own Nothing.**_

 _ **Check out my New Story: Lord of The Castle. A Justice League(Cartoon)/ Castlevania crossover**_

 _ **As always Please Review**_

* * *

The Merry sailed towards its next destination with the crew's usual enthusiasm for the unknown...well Luffy's enthusiasm anyway. Unfortunately when the ship arrived the island was a vast open plain with tall trees and no sign of any form of civilisation. Dispiete that Luffy was still eager to explore and once the Merry was close enough to the shore he jumped off the ship.

Chopper followed him and Connor and Robin came out of the kitchen to see Luffys usual eagerness to explore a new island, they walked over to join the others.

"Alright exploring time," Luffy cried.

"Hey Luffy, don't wander off," Usopp cried "you don't know what's out there,"

Luffy stopped and looked back at Usopp and gave a big smile.

"Usopp if you wanted to come, why didn't you just say so?" Luffy asked.

"What...no I don't want to come," Usopp shot back "who knows what's out there,"

"I know, isn't it exiting?" Luffy responded.

"Luffy lets go let's go," Chopper said enthusiastically and while jumping up and down.

"You know we can't let them wander off on his own," Zoro said.

"I agree, if someone doesn't go with them who knows what trouble he'll get us into," Nami added.

"Though the Island dose look relatively safe...it is an open plain after all," Sanji mused.

"True...Usopp go keep an eye on Luffy," Nami ordered.

"HUH!" Usopp responded "WHY ME!?"

"Because you already want to explore," Zoro said.

"No I don't...I don't want to leave the ship," Usopp claimed.

"Hmm...that doesn't sound like a brave warrior of the sea to me," Nami said.

"Well...My...My stomach hurts," Usopp suddenly said "yeah i can't go,"

"Is that your I can't go to a knew island sickness again?" Zoro asked annoyed.

"Yeah...it's really bad this time," Usopp claimed.

"Don't worry we have a cure for that now," Nami said, smiling sweetly.

"You...do?" Usopp asked.

"Yep. All you have to do is turn around, take a deep calming breath and look at the horizon," Nami instructed "Give it a try,"

Usopp did as he was told and the moment he turned around Zoro, Sanji and Nami kicked Usopp off the ship and he landed in front of Luffy and Chopper.

"There your all better," Zoro said "Now keep Luffy out of trouble,"

"THAT'S NOT FAIR!" Usopp yelled.

Luffy laughed at Usopps expense and he then noticed Connor was on deck with the others watching.

"Hey Connor do you want to come?" Luffy asked "It'll be fun,"

"Umm...okay," Connor responded and he jumped of the ship to join the others and they all headed off to explore the Island.

"Those boys...you know one day Luffy's recklessness is going to get him into a fight that even he can't win," Nami said.

"Yeah well better he gets it out of his system now so he's serious when we need him to be," Sanji said.

"I think it's a good thing, after Alabasters civil war, the fighting god in the sky and landing in that Marine base...we need a nice peaceful island every now and then," Zoro said.

"Zoro is right, we've been very busy lately. Let the boys be childish for a bit, it will do them some good," Robin advised.

"I suppose," Nami sighed "I'm still worried though,"

"Besides how much trouble can they possibly get into on a deserted island like this one?" Robin asked.

Luffy, Usopp, Connor and Chopper were exploring the island; they had very quickly discovered the islands very long and tall animal life. They had also found that the trees were very tall as well, all the flowers and fruit and anything growing on them were stretched as well. Luffy used his powers to pick something off a tree and looked at it.

"What's this?" Luffy asked holding out a long red stretched fruit.

"Don't know, looks like a chilli of some kind," Usopp said.

"It doesn't smell like one," Chopper claimed, giving the fruit a sniff.

"Oh well bottoms up," Luffy said and took a bite.

"DON'T EAT RANDOM PLANTS!" Chopper and Usopp yelled.

"Mmmm...hey this tastes like and apple," Luffy said happily.

"Really?" Connor asked.

"Yeah, it's nice and juicy too," Luffy claimed as he took another bite.

Luffy continued to much on his apple while investigating the other trees, he found a long Kiwi fruit, a bunch of very very stretched bananas and some rectangular watermelon. Luffy ate all of the fruit but he managed to convince Chopper and Connor to try some of the watermelon. Usopp however refused to eat any of the strange fruit; instead he put on his goggles and looked around

"Hey Luffy...there's a house over there," Usopp said.

"Really?" Luffy asked.

"Yeah...but who would be living out here?" Usopp wondered.

"Let's go see, maybe they have some long meat," Luffy said.

"I don't think that's a thing," Usopp said.

"Why not? after all the animals here are all stretched out," Connor pointed out "if their bodies are like that then there meat must be too,"

As they approached the house they were stopped by a deer like animal with large antlers, it walked in front of them and like everything else on the island it was stretched out.

"Hey Chopper, is that a relative of yours?" Luffy joked.

"I'M A REINDEER!" Chopper yelled insulted "AND THAT'S A MOOSE!"

Once the moose had moved on the group approached the house, only it turned out to be more of a small round hut. Unlike the other trees and animals that they had seen on the Island so far the small house was normal human sized and not stretched out at all.

"Huh…weird, it's not long or stretched," Usopp observed.

"Maybe a human lives here," Chopper suggested.

"I don't know, humans living on this island would be 100 feet tall at least and be really thin," Usopp lied.

"Really?" Chopper and Luffy asked excitedly.

"Why do you say that?" Connor asked.

"Well look at the trees, fruits and animals," Usopp pointed out "they all grow super tall or long and stretched. It makes sense that the humans who live here would be the same,"

"I doubt that is the case," Connor stated "besides this hut is too small for a 100 foot tall human,"

"I want to meet the tall human," Luffy declared and he walked up to the door of the hut.

"Hey 100 foot tall human I'm coming in," Luffy declared and opened the door.

"LUFFY WAIT!" Usopp yelled "THEY MIGHT BE DANGOURS!"

Luffy however ignored him and walked into the hut, it was a small one room hut that had all the necessities needed to survive, but no one was home.

"Huh…no one's here," Luffy said disappointingly.

"That's good….let's leave before they come back," Usopp said fearfully poking his head in and looking around wildly.

"Huh why?" Luffy asked

"I…I…It could be the boss of the islands house, we don't want to be caught here," Usopp claimed.

"LUFFY USOPP COME OUT HERE QUICK!" Choppers voice cried "THERE'S A WHITE GIRAFFE!"

Luffy and Usopp came running out and saw that Chopper and Connor were looking up at a very large and stretched animal that did resemble a giraffe, although it was pure white and had no spots. It also had a saddle and reaingens on it.

"WHOA….SO COOL!" Luffy said in awe.

He then walked up to it.

"Luffy…wait…it might be a carnivore," Usopp said fearfully.

"Hey you white Giraffe, join my crew," Luffy demanded.

"LUFFYYYYYY!" Usopp yelled.

The giraffe just looked down at the rubber captain and made a sad neighing sound.

"Huh….oh…whoops, sorry about the confusion," Chopper said.

"What did he say?" Usopp asked.

"She said she's not a Giraffe but a horse," Chopper translated.

"Wait…this is horse?" Connor asked confused.

Chopper nodded and the horse made another neighing sound.

"Yep, her name is Shelly," Chopper claimed.

"Oh…well hey Shelly, join my crew," Luffy repeated.

"Luffy if this is a horse then it's already owned," Usopp said and pointed to the saddle in the horse back "see it has a saddle so it must have a rider,"

Shelly made some more sad neighing sounds.

"According to Shelly she does have an owner, but she doesn't know where he is," Chopper said.

"Why not?" Connor asked.

"He went missing 10yrs ago," Chopper claimed "on minute he was here the next gone. Shelly's been waiting for him to come back,"

"That's some loyalty," Usopp admired "but is it possible that Shelly's rider is dead,"

Shelly made some more neighing sounds only more determined than before. Luffy Usopp and Connor looked at Chopper for a translation.

"Shelly says that she believes her owner is still alive and will wait for him to come back, she said he was chasing his dream when he disappeared," Chopper translated.

"Huh…I wonder what that was," Usopp said thoughtfully.

"Maybe it was to find the other end of that long dog we saw," Luffy said.

"That's stupid," Usopp claimed.

While Luffy and Usopp were debating on what Shelly's owner dreamt of Connor noticed two very long Bamboo Shoots a short distance away. He blinked at them a few times.

'We're they there before?' Connor thought, he didn't remember seeing them earlier.

Connor looked up at Luffy and Usopp who were debating over various ideas on what Shelly's rider's dream was.

"I'm going over there to look at something," Connor said pointing at the Bamboo.

"Yeah yeah sure," Usopp said not paying attention.

Connor walked over to the two stalks of Bamboo; once he got there he looked around but did not see any other Bamboo in the area. He walked over to them and looked upwards, like the other trees they were tall but unlike the other trees he could not see the top.

"Weird….there's no other plants like them around and I am sure they weren't here before. What are they?" Connor wondered having never seen Bamboo before "I wonder how far they go up?"

Connor looked back at the stalk in at his eye level and poked one off the stalks, surprisingly the shoot moved back slightly.

"Wait…did that just move?" Connor asked.

He poked it again and the two shoots moved back again. Connor stared at them in confusion.

The shoots moved again only this time they moved towards Connor at an incredible speed. Connor jumped out of the way as one of the shoots went past him, it stopped and then turned back around and headed back towards him. Connors face panicked and he started to run.

"LUFFY….HELP IT'S CHASING ME!" Connor cried as he ran back to the captain.

Luffy, Usopp, Chopper and Shelly looked over towards him and saw the bamboo moving on its own and that it was indeed chasing him.

"GAHHHHH BAMBOOO MONSTER!" Usopp screamed and ran with Connor.

Chopper also freaked out and joined them. Luffy just laughed and chased after the Bamboo monster.

"Hey Bamboo monster, join my crew," Luffy called out after it.

"STOP ASKING EVEYONE THAT!" Chopper, Usopp and Connor cried back.

Despite Luffys' offer the Bamboo monster did not stop chasing them nor did it pay attention to him at all. Eventuly Luffy had enough of being ignored by the Living Bamboo.

"HEY PAY ATTEION TO ME!" Luffy shouted and kicked one of the stalks snapping it.

The others stopped running and watched as Luffy broke one of the shoots, this seemed to make the monster plant stop all together.

"He broke it," Connor said happily.

"Well it is only Bamboo after all, it's not like it's that hard to break," Chopper said.

"Bamboo….what's that?' Connor asked.

"A hollow plant that grows really fast, animals eat it and use it as a water source," Usopp answered.

"Wait…Bamboo is hollow?" Connor asked.

"Yeah it's actually pretty fragile and breaks easily," Usopp said.

Connor looked over at the plant and then back at Usopp.

"Then why were we running?" Connor asked annoyed "I could have just sliced it with my sword"

"I've never seen Bamboo before, how would I know what it is?" Connor asked.

"Oh…really?" Usopp asked.

"Yes really," Connor claimed.

Before they could continue a loud thud was herd and as something had crashed into the ground. Luffy, Usopp, Chopper and Connor all came over and saw and old man on the ground.

The man was elderly, with wrinkles and a round white beard. He had small round eyes, a round nose, and is missing one tooth. He has a purple-brown hat, with brown fur lining, and brown cloth on the sides. He wore a yellow tunic, with green lining with a circle design on the end of the sleeves, and side of the chest. He had a purple sash, purple shoes, and vertical zigzag striped purple tanned pants.

"Hey look guys, I broke the Bamboo and a sprit came out," Luffy said excitedly.

"Wait…sprits live in Bamboo?" Connor asked.

"Yeah they bring peace and good fortune," Luffy claimed.

"That's just old superstation," Usopp claimed.

Suddenly the old man shot up and stared at the pirates.

"Hello, who are you?" the man asked.

The old man's Name was Tonjit and after a brief introduction and explanation as to who Luffy and his friends were Tonjit explained why he was up on the top of the Bamboo. They were stilts, he had been trying to break the world record for the highest stilts and used Bamboo to do it...unfortunately the they had grown and while he was able to break the record he got stuck on them with no way down.

Tonjit had been stuck up on the stilts for 20yrs and had survived by eating the fruit off the trees, he also apologised to Connor for scaring him but he was really just trying to get some help getting down. Unfortunately because Luffy broke the stilts there would be no proof that Tonjit actually broke the record.

Tonjit invited the crew into his home and explained the island. The Island itself is an island chain of ten different mountain shaped islands that are connected to each other and what he and the crew were on was in fact a mountain plateau. Tonjit also told the crew that he was part of a nomadic tribe that lived on the Island and travelled from plateau to plateau when the ocean receded enough to reveal a path; this happened once a year.

Unfortunately they moved on when while he was on the stilts. Usopp offered to take him to the next one to meet up with his tribe.

Tonjit claimed that would not work as the plateaus still share the same magnetic signature as they are all part of the same island so it would near impossible to navigate to the next plateau. The only way to get there was to wait until the sea recedes and walk and that happened once a year or wait another ten years for his tribe to come back around.

Luffy and the others felt bad for him but Tonjit claimed he was fine with it and he would just wait for his tribe to return. Tonjits one regret that he did not have his faithful companion Shelly, upon hearing the name the Chopper claimed that the horse was still nearby and Tonjit eagerly followed the pirates behind the house where Shelly was.

They were happy reunited and during Tonjits first ride in 20yrs Shelly was shot. Chopper instantly ran to Tonjit and Shelly and began treating the horse; thankfully the old man had not been hurt in the fall.

Luffy Connor and Usopp looked behind them to where he shot had come from to see three figures standing there...and one of them was holding a gun.

The man holding the gun was a stout man with skinny arms and legs. He has almost a cleft lip-like mouth; his hair split into two spikes pointing upwards. He has thick, triangles-like eyebrows, and is almost always seen grinning. He wore yellow-orange pants, held up by suspenders, with large, rotund buckles on the edges, tucked inside black boots, which are white on the front part of the legs and have orange strings and a short wooden sword in his pants.

The man was flanked by a girl and a very strange looking Gorlia like man, they stood behind him.

The girl was a slender young woman with dark blue hair, blue eyes, and a long pointed nose. She wore a pink jumpsuit with extremely puffed pant-legs, which is unzipped on the top to reveal a bikini top beneath it. Her outfit is adorned by several large, white puff-balls, the most notable one being the one hanging from her hat. She had a strange mask on her face.

The gorilla-like human was large, he wasn't wearing much, he wore long-sleeved gloves with matching navy blue pants and a leopard patterned scarf around his neck. He had also had the same mask that the girl wore on his face.

"Well well well...we finally meet. Monkey D. Luffy," the man with the gun said wickedly.

"Hey who are you? Why did you shoot Shelly?" Luffy asked angrily.

"My Name is Foxy, I'm the Captain of the Foxy Pirates," Foxy introduced.

"This is Porche," Foxy said gesturing to the girl "And Hamburg," Foxy said gesturing to the Gorilla like man.

"What do you want?" Luffy demanded.

"Simple...I want to play a game with you," Foxy grinned.

"A...Game?" Luffy asked confused yet slightly interested.

* * *

 _The Going Merry_

Back at the Merry the rest of the Straw hats were leaving the ship, now that the Merry had been secured on the island the rest of the crew were heading out to explore...and check on Luffy, it was never a good idea to leave him alone for too long. As they were about to leave a second ship much larger ship docked right behind the Merry and used two massive paw like anchors to attach itself to the island and block the Merry in.

The crew of the new ship all appeared on deck and looked down at the straw hats, while they were all wearing different styles of clothing they all had the same thin black mask across their eyes and what looked to be some kind of black ears on an headband on their heads.

"Well that's just plain rude," Robin said "we can't leave now,"

"Hey what's the big idea, there's plenty of room to dock," Nami yelled "Don't block us in,"

"Oh we're not blocking you in, we're making sure you can't escape," one of the opposing crew claimed.

"Escape...if you lot wanted to fight why didn't you just say so," Zoro smirked.

"Fight...nah we want to play a Davy Back game with you," another responded.

"Davy Back Game?" Nami asked confused.

"Oh dear..." Robin said worriedly.

"What? What's a Davy Back game?" Nami asked.

"It's a competition between pirates crews, two pirate groups compete in competitive games. Each game has one crew win and one crew lose, the most games that can be played is three," the pirate explained.

"So it's a best out of three competition then...that doesn't sound so bad," Nami said "I assume there is a prize,"

"Oh there is a prize alright, the captain of the winning crew who wins each game gets to take one member of the opposing pirate crew and add it to their own," the man smirked "that person must then swear immediate fealty to their new captain,"

Nami's face paled.

"But that means..." Nami said.

"Yep, the crew are the prize," the man smirked.

"We would never agree to play something like that," Nami declared.

"Actually we may not have a choice," Robin said.

Nami and the rest of the crew looked at her.

"Davy Back Fight or Games as they are sometimes referred too only occur if two Captains agree," Robin explained "In this case if there captain challenges ours and Luffy accepts we will have to play,"

"But what if we refuse?" Zoro asked.

"If Luffy refuses the game then it won't happen, I would assume that these pirates will just move on," Robin said.

"And if Luffy accepts and we don't agree to play?" Sanji asked.

"If that happens then you will not only bring shame and embarrassment to your captain by not respecting him and standing by him but you lot will also become known throughout the pirate world as cowards and your captain will never be taken seriously," one of the pirates answered.

"That's fine, we don't take Luffy that seriously anyway...in fact no one dose," Nami said "When is this fight supposed to start?"

"It begins when both captains shoot a single shot pistol in the air at the same time. Once that is done the Davy Back Fight begins," one of the pirates claimed.

"Fine then you lot can play I won't, I don't care if it brings us shame," Nami said.

"Forget that," Zoro said.

"Excuse me? You would rather risk losing one of our own then putting up with some rumours and how people think of us?" Nami asked.

"Davy Back Fights are a matter of pride; if you're not willing to risk it all and put everything on the line then you're not fit to be pirates,"

"I would rather die than have be known as a coward throughout the world," Zoro said "Plus if we disgrace ourselves then nobody will take us seriously as the Pirate Kings crew...hell they may not even acknowledge Luffy as the pirate King when he finds One Piece"

"I can't let the ladies of the world think I'm a coward," Sanji said "I would never be able to live that down,"

"We can't live you down now," Zoro said.

"What was that?" Sanji asked dangerously.

"Nothing, Hey you lot," Zoro called to the other pirates "if our captain dose agree to the Davy Back Fight, can you take Pervo-Cook here form us? He's annoying and a very bad influence on the kid,"

"I AM NOT!" Sanji yelled

"Kid?" the other pirates asked.

"Yeah we got a young and very impressionable kid on board; Pervo-Cook here is a bad influence; so do us a favour and take him first. I don't want the Kid growing up to be a pervert," Zoro explained.

"He'll grow up to be lazy like you if he's not careful," Sanji shot back.

"Bette lazy then pulled up for sexual harassment and assault," Zoro muttered.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"

"YOU HERD ME!"

"THAT'S IT YOUR DEAD!"

This started yet another fight between the two, the other pirate crew watched in confusion as to why Zoro and Sanji were fighting each other and how it had escalated so quickly.

"Between these two, Luffy, Usopp and Chopper I doubt Connor will grow up at all," Nami sighed.

Nami went over and broke up the fight by bashing both Zoro and Sanji over the head, it was so hard that it left several bumps on their heads; Robin chuckled at her ship mates antics.

"If it's true and they really do have a kid on board I hope they don't grow up to be like her...she's scary," one of the pirates said. The rest of the crew nodded in agreement.

"Now then, I have to go find Luffy and tell him what's at stake before he goes a head and agrees to this sick game," Nami said angrily.

However just as she turned around two gun shots were heard in the distance, they were so closely fired tighter that it was almost simultaneously.

"Well, looks like its game on," one of the pirates smirked.


	59. Foxy Pirates Pt 3

_**I own Nothing**_

 _ **For those of you who have played The Assassins Creed games feel free to share your Favourite Sync point in the AC series in the Review box for everyone to see. If you have a favourite Sync point share it as well as the game it is from and a reason, if you have multiple and can't decide...add them all or just the name of the game that you feel had the best Sync points.**_

 _ **Mine up until a last year was in AC Brotherhood, jumping off them and taking para-shoot glided tour over the city was always enjoyable...as was landing on the guards below.**_ _ **However Since AC Unity came out that has changed, I loved the Snyc points in Unity. Say what you will about Unity but the Sync points and the birds eye view of Paris was spectacular...that is probably one of the things that game did right...once the patch came out and fixed 90% of texture the glitches.**_

 _ **Although the Pyramids of Gizer was an amazing place to put a Sync point...you couldn't leap of faith off them and that was a downer for me**_

 _ **As always Please Review**_

* * *

Luffy, Chopper, Usopp, Connor, Tonjit, Foxy, Porche and Hamburg made their way back to where their two ships had docked. Luffy was eager to start playing the games with the other pirate crew but Foxy said a few things had to be done first before the games could start and failure to do so would dishonour and likely anger Davy Jones.

When they got back to where the two pirate ships were docked the whole area had been turned into a festival grounds. Complete with various food stores, ice cream, fairy floss(1), a fairest wheel, a stage which currently had a live band playing some music curtesy of Foxy's musions.

There were even banners, lanterns and flags set up. A few people were also selling drinks and a bit further away there were some pirates setting up some firework launchers. While there were a lot of people around every one of them had the same black mask and ears that Porche and Hamburg wore.

"Woah...it's like a festival," Luffy cheered "I love Festivals,"

Usopp slapped him.

"Don't get caught up in the atmosphere," Usopp scolded.

"Why not? the old man is," Luffy said.

He gestured to Tonjit who was at a food stand ordering two serves of fried noodles.

"DON'T SUPPORT THIS!" Usopp yelled.

"Who are all these people?" Chopper asked as he observed everyone.

"There my men of course," Foxy said proudly.

"What...all of them?" Luffy asked.

"That's right...the boss has exactly 500 pirates under his command," Porche said proudly.

"Whoa...that's incredible," Luffy said in awe "for someone who has a funny looking head,"

Foxy's face instantly went from shocked to severely depressed and he fell to his knees dramatically and a small gloomy cloud appeared over his head.

"H...H...H...He said I look funny...I'm not funny looking...I'm just perfect the way I am," Foxy muttered.

"Hey you don't insult our boss," Porche warned "he's very sensitive,"

"He has a glass heart," Hamburg chuckled.

"Hamburg stop laughing...this isn't funny," Porche scolded.

"Ha ha ha...this guy is funny," Luffy laughed and pointed at Foxy.

While Luffy was making fun of Foxy and Porche was trying to get Foxy to snap out of his depression; Connor observed the surroundings, curios as to how all this was set so quickly. Once Foxy had recovered Connor went over to him

"How did you get this set up so quickly?" he asked.

Foxe gave a sly smile.

"I have about 150 shipwrights, they're all very talented and very good at what they do," Foxy claimed "They can set up bigger festivals than this in no time,"

"You have over 150 shipwrights?" Usopp asked.

"That's right...why how many do you have?" Foxy asked.

"None...we're on the lookout for one," Usopp admitted.

"You know if you win a game you can take one of mine as a prize," Foxy stated.

"Huh...that would save us a lot of trouble," Usopp thought.

"Tell you what...if you win and you want to pick a shipwright I will point out the top three in my crew for you to choose from," Foxy promised.

"Really...you're actually a nice guy for someone who looks so sketchy," Luffy smiled.

Foxy fell back into his depressed state and Luffy just laughed.

Usopp sighed, once Porche had snapped Foxy out of his depressed state she, Foxy and Hamburg wandered off to prepare for the start of the Davy Back Fights. Connor noticed Nami, Robin and Zoro were on their way over to meet them...though Sanji wasn't with them.

"Hey look, Nami and the others are coming," Connor pointed out.

Usopp turned and saw them and he ran over to Nami.

"NAMIIIIIIII!" Usopp cried "LUFFY DID SOMETHING STUPID!"

"I heard," Nami said irritably and then punched Usopp in the face.

"Usopp!" Chopper panicked.

Nami then hit Chopper, Usopp and Connor on the heads leaving large bumps.

"What was that for?" Usopp asked.

"You were sent to stop him from doing things like this!" She yelled.

"I...I...I'm sorry..." Connor said fearfully.

Nami glared at him and she marched up to Luffy, she hit him too and began pulling on his face.

"Why the hell did you agree to play a Davy Back Fight?!" Nami yelled "Don't you know

"Yeah, that funny looking guy explained it to me," Luffy claimed.

"Then why did you agree?" Nami asked "we could lose people in this,"

"He said it was a game...games are fun," Luffy claimed.

Nami's eyes twitched and she hit Luffy again. Zoro and Robin walked up to the them and Connor looked up at Zoro, he was afraid that Zoro would be angry with him too. But the swordsman walked past him and headed for the beer stand, Robin however stopped behind Connor.

"Connor are you alright?" Robin asked.

Connor turned and looked at her.

"I'm sorry...i didn't know," Connor tried "Nobody ordered me to stop him,"

Robin bent down on her knees so she was eye level with Connor.

"Connor it's not your fault," Robin assured.

"But..." Connor started.

Just then Sanji came over with hearts in his eyes holding two sticks of pink Fairy Floss(1).

"Robin-chawn...I got you some Fairy..." Sanji started and then he noticed Connor "Connor...what's wrong?"

"Connor thinks it's his fault that we're playing a Davy Back game because he didn't stop Luffy," Robin explained.

"Why does he think that?" Sanji asked.

"Nami...she said that we were supposed to stop Luffy from doing things like this...but i didn't know we were," Connor claimed.

Sanji sighed, he handed Robin a stick of pink Fairy Floss(1) and offered the other one to Connor.

"Here," he said and held out the other sick.

Connor took the stick and looked at it sadly.

"You didn't know this would happen, none of us knew that this would happen," Robin claimed.

"Yeah besides Luffy is a childish moron, so when some weirdo comes up and says he wants to play a game with him...well of course Luffy is going to play," Sanji claimed.

"But...Foxy said...that if he won a game he would take one of us as his prize...I don't want to leave," Connor claimed.

"You're a child; it is more than likely that they will overlook you," Sanji claimed "after all having a kid on board a pirate ship is a burden,"

"SANJI GET OVER HERE!" Nami yelled.

"Yes Nami-Swaaannnnn," Sanji cried and ran over to the navigator and ran off leaving Connor alone with Robin.

"There see nothing to worry about," Robin smiled.

Connor didn't respond, there was only one thing on his mind.

'I...I'm a burden?' Connor thought to himself.

Robin could tell that Connor was still a bit upset so she took him on a ride on the Fairest Wheel; this seemed to cheer the boy up as he had never been on one before. The cab they were in stopped at the top giving a nice view of the area and the plains.

"Whoa...you can see everything from up here," Connor said in awe.

"Not quite everything but yes, the view is spectacular," Robin agreed.

Connor stared out his side of the window and then went to Robin's side and looked out over the ocean and the coast line. Robin watched him with a smile as it seemed the ride had worked and Connor had forgotten about his previous worries. Suddenly Connors eyes turned yellow and he stared out the window.

Connor wasn't sure why he activated his sight, but the second he did he instantly felt like he was, every little detail of the island rushed into his head. He could see Tonjits house, he could see the two ships and he could see a reef on the opposite side of the island and how to pass through it, he could even see a sea monsters nest off shore northwest of the island.

Despite most of this being out of his rage of vision he knew exactly where everything was. Connor didn't know how or why...but he liked this feeling. He kept his sight on for a moment then his eyes went back to normal, he used his sight again but the feeling was gone as was his enhanced view of the island.

Connor frowned wondering what had happened, but despite this he still remembered what he had seen and for now that was enough for him and he wondered if this was part of the evolution process that Edward had mentioned or a sign that his sight really was getting stronger.

Connor wished Edward hadn't been from a different time as he still had more questions about his gift. Never the less when the ride was over Robin and Connor headed back to the others.

"So your first Fairest Wheel ride...did you like it?" Robin asked as they walked.

"Yeah it was fun," Connor smiled "and I really like this pink stuff to...it was like eating a cloud,"

"It's called Fairy Floss(1)," Robin supplied.

"Connor when we were at the top of the fairest wheel...why did you activate your sight?" Robin asked curiously.

"Umm...Don't know...it just felt right," Connor answered "But I am glad we came in on this part of the island,"

"Oh why's that?" Robin asked.

There's this huge coral reef on the opposite side of the island," Connor claimed "the coral is so big and thick that it sticks out of the ocean like as tall as trees and creates all these whirlpools at the base,"

"Really...that sounds dangerous," Robin claimed.

"Yeah, but only for small boats like rafts and stuff. The Merry would never be able to fit through it," Connor claimed.

"Oh well I guess we won't be going on any small boat rides while we're here," Robin claimed

"You can pass if you go through approach it from the correct angle," Connor claimed.

"And what is the right angle?" Robin asked.

"I don't know...but there are two large coral stems that cross over and form a low arch, if you were in a small boat and you ducked then you could fit underneath," Connor explained.

"If you enter the reef from there then the currents of all the whirlpools will guide you through the reef, weaving between the coral like trees," Connor claimed "I bet it would be a fun ride,"

"I'm sure it would be," Robin agreed.

"But after that it'd get dangerous," Connor claimed "a bit further on there are some underwater vents that erupt every ten seconds…but only if the water is disturbed…I bet even a small boat gliding along the surface would set it off,"

"Underwater...vents?" Robin asked suspiciously.

"Yeah but after that there's this bamboo forest, I bet that's where Tonjit got his stilts from..it's not far from where we docked...did you know I've never seen Bamboo before today," Connor continued.

"Connor..." Robin interrupted.

Connor stoped talking and looked at her.

"how do you know this?" she asked.

"I saw it from the fairest wheel...you know when we were at the top and I was looking over the cast line," Connor claimed.

"You...saw this from the top of the farist wheel?" Robin asked.

"Yeah you were there...didn't you see it too?" Connor asked.

Robin blinked and stared at the boy for a moment.

"Connor...you have such a wild imagination," Robin chuckled.

"But I'm not imagining it," Connor claimed.

"Of course not," Robin smiled.

"I'm not...really...Robin I'm not imagining things I really did see it," Connor claimed and ran to catch up with the archaeologist.

They headed back to the main area and found that most of the Foxy Pirates had gathered in front of the stage where both Luff and Foxy were sitting on chairs on the stage and Luffy was eating some noodles. The rest of the straw hats were by themselves in away from the crowd. Nami did not look happy at all.

"Oh there you two are, where'd you go?" Zoro asked as he saw Robin and Connor approach.

"We took a ride on the fairest wheel," Robin answered with a smile.

"Well there about to start the Davy Back Fight," Sanji said.

The crew turned their attention to the stage to see Porche in front of a microphone.

"Attention all Pirates, welcome to another round of the Davy Back Fights," Porche announced "Before we begin I will explain the rules for those that have not participated in Davy Back Fights,"

"Rule 1: The contestants for each event are chosen by the captains before the game begins, All Contestants can only participate in one event and the contestants cannot be changed," Porche started

"Rule 2: If a crew member is lost in one event, they can be won back in the next event, but not in future Davy Back Fights after the current one is over, unless the captains of both crews involved agree to another Davy Back competition," she continued.

"Rule 3: All crew members that are won must immediately swear permanent allegiance and loyalty to their new captain no matter who they may be," Porche finished "Do the captains agree and swear to abide these rules?"

"I swear," Foxy declared.

"Me too," Luffy agreed "Can I have some more noodles?"

"There are other supplementary rules of course that will only be invoked under cretin situations, should a situation occur that affects a supplementary rule we will let you know what they are," Porche added.

The rest of the straw hats had been watching from the back.

"Seems fair enough," Zoro said.

"You know for a game that wages crew members...these rules are cover a lot and make it fair on both sides," Sanji commented.

"Why...why are we doing this?" Nami moaned.

"What are you so upset about?" Zoro asked.

"Obviously if we lose I am going to be the one chosen, I'm cute and clearly the most obvious and valuable remember of this crew," Nami pointed out.

"Self-Proclaimed cute and most valuable member of the crew is more like it," Zoro muttered.

Nami's eye twitched and she swiftly beat up Zoro.

"Now than Straw hat I'll let you pick, 1,2 or three coins," Foxy said as he held out three beli in between his fingers.

"Ummm what?" Luffy asked.

"It's the number of games we play, as you were challenged you get to pick," Porche clarified.

"Oh I see...well more games means more fun," Luffy reasoned.

"LUFFY!" Usopp and Nami's voices were herd.

Luffy looked over to see Nami and Usopp both at the back of the crowed and both had their hands out with a single finger indicating one. Luffy looked at them and smiled.

"Okay got it...I pick three games," Luffy declared and held out three fingers.

"NOOOOO!" Nami and Usopp screamed.

"3 Games it is," Foxy declared he then threw the coins up into the air and they landed in the ocean.

"Hear that Davy Jones, we play three games in your name," Foxy cried.

"And now let the games begin," Proche announced and the foxy pirates cheered.

Porche headed Luffy a piece of paper and told him to write down the names of his crew on which event they wanted to participate in. Luffy got down from the stage and went over to his crew and was met with a very angry Nami and Usopp

"Man three whole fun filled games...I can hardly wait," Luffy said happily.

"How did you get 3 from 1?" Usopp asked.

"What are you talking about? you all had 1 finger up each," Luffy claimed.

"Don't tell me...he added both our fingers together," Nami moaned.

"Yeah but even if he did that wouldn't make three," Usopp pointed up.

"Oh he had one up too," Luffy said and pointed to Hamberg who was standing next to them.

Nami and Usopp looked at Hamberg in surprise as they had not noticed him earlier.

"WHY THE HELL WERE YOU VOTING?!" they both yelled.

"Your captains an idiot," Hamberg laughed before walking off.

The Foxy pirate who was running the noodle stand came over to Luffy.

"Your noddles sir," he said and held out a plate of noodles.

"Thanks," Luffy said gratefully and took the food "isn't this Davy Back thing the best...all the free food,"

Nami and Usopp moaned. They headed back to the rest of the crew where they were gathered and Luffy handed the piece of paper over to Robin.

"I was given this but I don't know what to do with it," Luffy said.

"It looks like a starting line-up...we put our names under which event that we want to participate in," Robin said.

"Do we know what kind of events they are?" Sanji asked.

"The events are a race, Team sport and combat," Robin read out.

"Does it say what the actual events are?" Chopper asked.

"No, only that they fit into one of each of these categories," Robin answered.

"It's a start," Nami sighed.

She looked at the paper trying to determine who should do what.

"Okay first off...Luffy should do combat alone," Nami said "he's strong enough to take on a Shibki and i doubt the other crew can make the same claim,"

"Yeah a fight," Luffy cheered.

"What about the other two?" Usopp asked.

"I think Zoro, Sanji and Chopper should do the sporting event," Nami said.

"Is it wise to put all our heaver hitters in the one event?" Robin asked.

"If it's a sporting event then yes, you need strength speed and endurance and those three have abundance of that," Nami pointed out.

"That leaves Usopp, Robin, Connor and me for the race," Nami said.

"I really don't want to compete," Connor claimed.

"Me either but we have no choice, at least the race is most likely the safest out of the thee," Nami claimed.

"I have I-Can't-Go-First-syndrome again," Usopp claimed.

"Suck it up," Zoro said.

"Okay we'll just swap you and Luffy then," Sanji said casually.

"NO I'M GOOD TO RACE!" Usopp cried.

Nami nodded in satisfaction and went to go hand the paper in, Connor however decided to take the opportunity to ask Robin something.

"Hey Robin…who's Davy Jones?" Connor asked.

"A cursed pirate who lives at the bottom of the ocean," Robin answered "Legend says he steals things that fall into the sea. Ships, Treasure…even people,"

"Really?" Chopper asked fearfully, who had been listening.

"Yes apparently his greed and lust for treasure cursed him to forever be banned from the surface so he now steals anything that falls into the sea," Robin explained "he lives in deepest darkest depths of the ocean,"

"Is he really down there?" Connor asked.

"So the stories say, for a while captains of ships used to throw some coins into the ocean before they set off on long voyages in exchange for safe passage," Robin claimed "But that is an old sailors superstition,"

"The bottom of the ocean is a scary place," Chopper commented.

"Yes, some say that the reason that Devil Fruit users can't swim in the ocean is because Davy Jones is dragging them down so he can obtain a Devil fruit. The ultimate forbidden treasure of the sea," Robin continued.

"GAHHHH I ATE A DEVIL FRUIT!" Chopper panicked.

"Well you had better not fall into the ocean then," Robin said sweetly "Or else the fruit Davy Jones takes will be yours,"

"NOOOOOOO!" Chopper screamed in fear and ran over to Zoro and jumped on his head covering his face.

"Chopper…get off," Zoro tried, in an annoyed voice as he tried to pull the doctor off him.

Connor watched him run off and then turned to look at Robin.

"Did you make that last part up?" Connor asked.

"Maybe," Robin chuckled.

* * *

 _ **(1) Fairy Floss is what Cotton Candy is called in Australia.**_

 _ **Fun fact of the Day: Cotton Candy/Fairy Floss was invented in 1897 by a dentist and first introduced to the public at the 1904 World's Fair under the name " Fairy Floss" however it was patented as Cotton Candy to appeal to kids of both genders and its original name faded with time. Australia is the only country in the world today that still sells this treat as Fairy Floss and it is known to the rest of the world as Cotton Candy.**_

 _ **Also this chapter marks the first Synchronise Point for Connor. For those of you who don't know Synchronise Points in the AC games unlock the world map, finding one reveals the area and all its landmarks, shops and other notable points on the map.**_

 _ **In this story it using Eagle vision at a high place where one can see virtually everything clearly it the user will instinctively see and know everything about the island.**_ _ **It will not tell the user everything though, they will know the rough lay out of the land and locations of landmarks and the nearest town but that is it.**_

 _ **It will not reveal hidden secrets like buried pirate treasure.**_ _ **Should there be any natural danger like whirlpools the user will also be told how to pass by them or through that area safely.**_ _ **Synchronising will only work once per island as once the information has been revealed the user will remember it and it will be up to the user on how to use the information.**_


	60. Foxy Pirates Pt 4

_**A.n I own Nothing**_

 _ **Please Review**_

* * *

Once both crews had handed in there team roster for the events the first event got underway. It was a race around the Island, the two competing teams had to build a raft out of four barrels and some rope; the materials were provided by the Foxy Pirates, each team was also given an Eternal pose for the Island as just encase they went too far out and were picked up by an ocean current then they could find their way back.

Nami, Usopp, Robin and Connor were about to start building when Foxy noticed Connor and stopped the building phase of the race game.

"Hold on…who's this kid?" Foxy asked.

"That's Connor," Nami said.

Foxy walked up to the boy and looked at him critically; Connor felt very unconformable at how close the other captain was. Foxy then turned to Luffy.

"Is he part of your crew?" Foxy asked.

"Yeah," Luffy confirmed.

Foxy turned back to Connor.

"How old are you boy?" he asked.

"T…Thirteen," Connor answered nervously.

"Thought so…disqualified," Foxy Said and pointed at the boy.

"WHAT?!" the whole crew yelled.

"YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" Nami yelled.

"Yeah he's part of the crew and listed for the first event, so he's allowed to compete," Usopp defended.

"Nope he can't," Foxy responded.

"Why not I thought all members of the crew were allowed to participate?" Robin asked.

"Supplementary age rule…only pirates ages 16 and over may participate in Davy Back fights," Foxy said.

"WAIT WHAT!" Luffy yelled.

"Yes that's true," Porche claimed "also if he is not 16 then not only is he ineligible to participate but he is also cannot be chosen as a prize should you're team lose,"

Connor looked up at her and then at Foxy who nodded in confirmation.

"Wait…I don't have to play nor do I have to leave?" Connor asked.

"Nope you not old enough, this is a pirate's game between men, not a children's game," Foxy claimed "sorry but no kids allowed,"

"Don't take it personally, it's just that kids tend to play pirate and there is no honour in taking a child or playing with one as they would have no chance of winning," Porche claimed "This rule was to prevent any…unfortunate misunderstandings,,"

"So does that mean somewhere down the line some pirate actually played a Davy Back game against kids playing make believe and won…there by taking a kid into their crew as a prize?" Robin asked.

"Well…yes…"

"Man you guys are scumbags you know that right," Zoro claimed.

Foxy fell into his depressed state.

"IT WASN'T US THAT DID THAT!" Porche yelled.

"The 16 only rule was implemented after many cases of confusion," Hamburg claimed.

"So this happened more than once…and none of you could tell that they were just kids playing and not real pirates….your lot are the worst kind of people," Zoro

"WE NEVER DID ANYTHING OF THE SORT!" the whole crew cried "AND IT WAS NOT ALWAYS THE PIRETS WHO WON!"

"So not only did you lot kidnap a bunch of kids forcing them to be pirates but you also lost to some kids to?" Luffy asked.

"NO!" Foxy's crew screamed.

Connor was just relived this meant that no matter who won or lost he would be staying with Luffy. He was still worried about losing one of the other Straw Hats but he trusted them to take care of themselves and believed that they would be able to handle whatever these games had instore for them.

"Can I still watch?" Connor asked. If he wasn't allowed to play he still wanted to support his friends.

"Of course, anyone can watch a Davy Back Fight," Foxy said "you can also take advantage of the food and drink being offered,"

"In that case…I'm getting a drink and some popcorn," Connor said and ran off.

"I'll go keep an eye on him," Sanji said and followed Connor.

"Sanji get me something too," Luffy called out after him.

"So the kids got immunity….lucky for him," Zoro commented once Connor was gone.

"Yeah," Luffy agreed "no matter what happens, he stays with us,"

"Hold on…that means we're down to three people," Nami pointed out.

"Well this is a boat race so…that's not a bad thing," Usopp pointed out "it will make our craft Lighter and faster with one less person on board,"

"Hey hold on…I'm only 15," Chopper announced "does that mean I don't have to play too?"

Foxy looked Porche.

"Well…I suppose…." Foxy said.

"Yeah but don't reindeer's reach maturity in like three years?" Luffy asked "at least that's when they start having babies,"

Choppers jaw dropped in shock.

"HOW THE HELL DO YOU KNOW THAT!" Chopper yelled.

"Um…but isn't he a human that ate a devil fruit?" Porche asked.

"I'M A REINDEER!" Chopper yelled.

"So you're a reindeer who can walk, talk and who is a doctor all at the same time," Foxy asked.

"Yes," Chopper claimed.

"EEEEE….THAT'S SO CUTEEEEEE" Porche screamed.

"Okay you stay in then," Foxy declared.

"Wait…but I'm under 16," Chopper reminded.

"Supplementary rule for different spices, your adult age is the same age as the sexulay mature age as your spices. Since all species have different ages that are considered when reaching adulthood,

"So Connors a human so the age of adulthood is 16 for him…but don't all islands have an age variation?" Robin asked "I have been to some islands where adulthood doesn't happen until 18,"

"That has to do with the islands laws and culture; it's 16 for humans because most humans no longer consider people children but young adults at that age. Also a lot of pirates start out at before they turn 18 since most pirates are human the 16 age…hell some people get married at 16. That is why its age limit applies to humans," Foxy explained "It's different for each spices,"

"I see…so essentially the race you're born into determines when you can start participating in Davy Back fights," Robin said.

"That's right and since a reindeer grows to adulthood in about 2-3 years….your doctor no choice but to compete," Foxy claimed.

Chopper hung his head in defeat, it looked like he would have to compete in the Davy Back games and he was not getting out of it.

"Now it that is all can we start the game?" Foxy asked.

"Hold on a second," Luffy interrupted.

Everyone turned to look at him.

"if Chopper is 15 now and reindeers are supposed to grow up after three years, that means…."Luffy started seriously.

Everyone looked at the rubber captain expectantly.

"Chopper is a really, really old man," Luffy concluded.

"I AM NOT OLD!" Chopper yelled angrily.

"I guess it's true what they say about men and women getting more mature and experienced with age," Luffy laughed.

"THAT IS NOT WHAT THAT PHRASE IS REFERRING TOO!" Chopper yelled.

"I am so glad Blondie isn't here to hear this," Zoro muttered.

When Connor and Sanji came back the rafts had been built and were in the water, Foxys team had built there raft around a shark named Monda and a Fishman called Capote on their team and named there boat Cutie Wagon.

Capote was a billfish Fishman with green skin, dark red hair, and a long, sharp nose. He wore a yellow shirt, purple gloves, purple shorts, a yellow belt, a light purple hood and the Foxy Pirates mask. Monda was an orange shark with yellow stars on him in the upper side of his body; the shark was wearing a red and black striped Foxy mask-like hood.

The Straw Hats team was a simpler design and there team's boat was called Tiger Barrel.

"Here," Sanji said and handed Luffy as can of soft drink and a hot dog.

"Ohhh thank you Sanji," Luffy said gratefully.

Connor had a big bag of popcorn a can of soft drink and some more fairy floss.

"You eat too much of that stuff and you'll get sick," Chopper commented when he saw what Connor was eating.

"Can't get sick," Connor responded.

"Let him be Chopper," Sanji warned.

Chopper sighed and turned back to the competitors, a speaker Den Den Mushi had been set up near a megaphone so that the announcer and his brief could follow the race while keeping everyone else updated to the racers progress.

"Alright we're ready to start the rules are simple, the first one to make one full lap of the Island wins; apart from that there are no rules in this race, it's anything goes. Good luck to both teams...Now on your marks," the announcer called.

"It'll be hard to beat those Fishmen," Nami commented, she knew firsthand how strong Fishmen were.

"Get set..." the announcer called.

"Oi Usopp, if anything happens to the ladies I will kill you," Sanji threatened in a dangerous and scary voice.

Usopp nearly fainted from fright.

"GO!" The announcer cried.

Both rafts left the starting line, Nami and Usopp were paddling hard while robin sat in the back. Foxy's team however thanks to the shark and the Fishmans superior strength the Cutie Wagon gained a massive lead in the start.

"And the Cutie Wagon pulls ahead straight away," the announcer announced "But that is to be expected from the Fishman race,"

"Crap...Oi Robin help us," Usopp demanded as he paddled.

Robin stood up and crossed her arms.

"Sen Flur," She said.

Several arms appeared on Capote and gabbed his limbs and two out of his backside palms planted firmly on the base of the raft.

"Huh what..." Capote asked in surprise.

"Flip," Robin said.

The Fishman was flipped over the boat and landed on the Monda's head stunning them both.

"Oh no...Capote, Monda," Porche cried.

"There we go," Robin said.

"Great, lets catch up," Nami said and she an Usopp continued to row.

However just as they were catching up Capote and Monda regained their senses and took off again. Unfortunately for the Cuite Wagon Robin had also created a chain of arms linking the two boats together and the straw hat's boat was being dragged along as well. Whit Nami and Usopp rowing they were very quickly closing the gap.

"Robin aren't you worried about the sea spraying your arms?" Usopp asked.

"No, those little drops aren't going to affect me," Robin assured.

"Ah and we have come to the first trial of the race...the Coral Forest," the announcer announced.

"Wait...what did he say?" Usopp gasped.

They looked ahead and sure enough there in front of them fast approaching was a reef with huge thick pink coral stems that looked like trees were coming out of the ocean and all those large corrals was disrupting the currents so a series of small whirlpools were everywhere. Robin's eyes widened, she could not believe what she was seeing.

"This reef's coral is so thick that sticks out of the sea like trees," the announcer said "and at the base a series of small whirlpools await out contestants...this is the first trail of the race and both teams must pass if they wish to remain in the game,"

Robin stared at the oncoming reef and slightly off to the side closer to the shore was two coral stems crossed over, with a small opening and they looked like a very low arch.

"That...that...that can't be possible," Robin said.

"What?" Nami asked.

"Connor...he said he saw this from the fairest wheel," Robin claimed "I didn't believe him when he told me,"

"He didn't happen to say how to get though it did he?" Usopp asked.

"There...head through that arch," Robin pointed out.

Usopp and Nami looked at the low arch and then back to Robin.

"ARE YOU NUTS?! WE COULD LOSE OUR HEADS GOING THROUGH THERE!" Usopp yelled.

"No Usopp...she's right," Nami said.

The sniper looked at Nami.

"The currents are all mixed up...only the correct one will get us through," Nami claimed.

"You're sure it's that one?" Usopp asked.

"Have I ever been wrong when it comes to navigating?" Nami asked.

Usopp sighed; he knew better to question Nami.

"Okay but...how do we get there without the other team seeing us," Usopp asked.

"We're still a bit behind, when they go in I'll release my power and by the time they come back out we will have gone in," Robin said.

Usopp nodded.

"The Cutie Wagon is the first to enter the Coral Forest," The announcer claimed "the whirlpools at in the forest make navigating difficult and if you don't chose the correct entry point then the current will spit you back out,"

As the Cutie Wagon entered Robin released her chain and with Usopp and Nami's driving along with momentum they had gained from being dragged buy the Cutie Wagon they managed to get to the archway.

"Duck," Robin advised as they approached.

All three Straw Hats did and they passed under it just as the Cutie Wagon was turned around and came back out.

"Oh and it looks like the Cutie Wagon was unable to pass and was spat back out," the announcer claimed.

"What...why can't we get through?" Porche asked.

"It doesn't matter as long as we're ahead of the Straw Hats we're fine," Capote claimed.

"Yeah your right," Porche agree and she looked back to see if the other team had caught up only to find no one behind them.

"Hey...where did they go?" Porche asked.

"And The Tiger Barrel sails through the Coral forest with ease," the announcer claimed.

"WHAT!" Porche screamed.

"This is a surprisingly easy ride," Usopp claimed.

"That's because all the whirlpools are connected," Nami explained "there current overlap each other, there's no need to steer or paddle as the current will do it for us,"

Usopp turned to Robin.

"Hey you said Connor saw this and the way through...how did he see it?" Usopp asked.

"I don't know, he used his sight at the top of the fairest wheel...and...wait his sight...that must have been it," Robin realised "it must have shown him the islands layout,"

"How? It's never done that before," Nami asked.

"Yeah doesn't it just tell him who's friend and whose foe," Usopp stated.

'Edward said Connor sight would grow as he dose...is this what he meant? Could Connors sight already becoming stronger?' Robin thought to herself.

"Robin Connor didn't happen to say what was after the Coral forest did he?" Nami asked, hoping to gain an advantage on Foxy's team.

"Hey Robin did Connor happen to mention a giant whirlpool by any chance in front of an impassable cape?" Usopp asked.

"No, he said there were some volatile underwater vents though," Robin answered "why?"

"Look," Usopp panicked.

Usopp pointed ahead and just where the Coral forest ended was a massive Whirlpool and on the other side was a long cape that stretched far out to sea.

"Oh...he failed to mention that," Robin stated calmly.

"I think Connor's sight still needs woooorrrrrrkkkkkkkkkkk," Usopp cried as the crew were swept into the whirlpool.

"Oh no, Tiger Barrel has become trapped in the giant Whirlpool at the end of the Coral Forest," the announcer claimed "and Cutie Wagon has yet to advance,"

"We have to do something...we'll be sucked in and have to swim out," Usopp cried.

"Don't be an idiot...you can't swim in this current," Nami claimed.

"At least you will have a chance, I will drown and my body will be ripped to pressure but the current and the pressure," Robin stated with a straight face "never to be seen again,"

"STOP BEING MORBID!" Usopp yelled "Nami can't you do something?"

"Like what? It's not like we can just fly out," Nami responded.

Suddenly Usopp got an Idea.

"Wait...Fly that's it...Nami tell me when were exactly opposite the cape," Usopp said as he made his what to the back of the raft.

"What Why?" Nami asked.

"Just do it," Usopp said as he opened his back and pulled out the Impact Dial and

Nami watched the cape carefully and when they were in position she cried out.

"Usopp now," She yelled.

"Right Hold on," Usopp commanded and he thrust the shell into the water.

A second later the Straw Hats small raft was flying through the air and over the cape with Nami screaming in fear and Usopp screaming in pain from using the Impact Dial again.

"Whoa...Tiger Barrel is flying...I repeat tiger barrel is flying," the announcer said in awe "it's flown over the cape...and over a third of the rest of the way...can it land safely?"

The Straw Hats raft landed in the water and despite the craftsmanship the boat held together.

"Oh looks like Tiger Barrel has landed in the water vents," the announcer cried.

"The what?" Nami asked.

She got her answer when suddenly hot water burst out from the ocean.

"What the hell?" Usopp asked.

"I suppose these would be the underwater vents Connor mentioned," Robin said as several more vents erupted.

"WE'LL BE CAPSIZED...ROW!" Usopp yelled.

He and Nami frantically started rowing but it just made the vents erupt even more, fortunately they were able to get through without capsizing.

"I HATE THIS ISLAND!" Nami cried.

"Oh...the Cutie wagon has finally entered the Coral forest," the announcer claimed "can they catch up or will tiger barrels lead be too much for them?"

"Row harder, Fishmen are insanely fast in the water," Nami warned "we have to get to the finish line before they catch up,"

"Oh what's that on the island?" the announcer asked.

Nami, Usopp and Robin looked over to the shore and saw Foxy dressed as an old lady with Hamberg sitting above him pretending to cry.

"Grandma...Grandma no..." Hamberg said with fake sadness and tears.

"My...son do not morn for me...oh look a ship," Foxy said in a fake week voice "help an old lady won't you?"

"If you're going to die hurry up," Nami shouted at Foxy as they passed.

"WHOA...The Straw Hats navigator is uncaring and heartless...I guess what they say about red heads having no soul is true," the announcer cried.

"SHUT UP!" Nami snapped.

They kept rowing and they were putting more energy into it then before, Robin assisted by having arms sprout of Nami and Usopp to put more power into the strokes as well as some arms to row with the spare oars. Now that Foxy's team had past the Coral Forest they would catch up quickly.

"Hurry...hurry we can't lose this lead," Nami insisted.

"Hey what's that up a head?" Usopp asked.

The three looked ahead and saw that there was a sign coming up pointing out to sea.

"Short Cut," Robin read.

"Oh well in that case let's follow it," Nami said "NOT!"

"Oh looks like the Straw Hat Navigator is smarter than the average woman,"

"WHAT'S THAT MEAN SEXIST BARSTED!" Nami yelled.

"Calm down Nami he's just trying to get under your skin," Robin advised.

"She's right, I mean honestly what idiots would fall for such an oblivious lie," Usopp asked.

"All right short cut," a cherry voice was herd.

Nami, Robin and Usopp turned to see that the Foxy's team was close behind and as they approached the sign they turned and went straight out to sea.

"Apparently those kinds of idiots," Nami muttered.

"How long do you think it'll take for them to realise that they have gone the wrong way?" Usopp asked.

"Hopefully before a Sea King eats them," Robin said.

They continued to paddle and it wasn't long before they saw a goal banner up ahead.

"Oh the Tiger Barrel is approaching the goal and the Cutie Wagon is nowhere in sight...is this a victory for the Straw Hats?" the announcer asked.

"Alright we won," Usopp cheered.

"That's right," Nami said "AS IF!"

Nami punched one of the posts so hard that it broke and the straw hats raft continued on.

"Oh and the bosses fake goal strategy has been defeated, what are the odds that a woman would see through that," The announcer claimed

Nami's eye twitched and she summoned a thunder cloud and stuck the announcer with lighting. The announcer was hit and fell to the ground; fortunately he was over land and not in the ocean.

"If there is one thing I hate in this world more than stupidity it sexiest loud mouth men who don't know when to keep their mouth shut," Nami declared.

"Nami...you're scary," Usopp claimed.

They continued to paddle and despite the fact that the other team had not only gone the wrong way and also stopped at the fake finish line Foxy's team were very quick to catch up and in the last leg of the race it would be very difficult to beat the Fishmen in the water.

"Look," Robin said and pointed towards a bamboo thicket near on the shore

"A bamboo forest….what about it?" Nami asked.

"Connor said there was a bamboo forest not far from the ship," Robin claimed "The finish line must be nearby,"

"She's right; I can see the finish line," Usopp claimed "and everyone else,"

Nami looked back at Foxy's team who were very close.

"We won't make it…there too fast," Nami claimed.

"Hang on," Usopp said and pulled out his slingshot.

He fired a few explosives rounds hitting the bamboo thicket and causing it to land on the Cutie Wagon and stall them. This gave the Straw Hats enough time to make it to the finish line.

"This is it….we did it…we won," Nami cheered.

"And the winner is Porche, Capote and Monda…the Cutie Wagon has won the Island Race!" The announcer yelled.

Nami stared in shock as in front of her was the Foxy's team and they had already crossed the finish line while there boat was still inches from it. Nami looked behind them to see the floating remains of the bamboo trees that had fallen to block there way and that there was a now clear path between them indicating that the Cutie Wagon

Nami blinked in confusion, it was impossible for Foxys team to have gone from all the way back there to the finish line in a single second.

"WHAT…HOW WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED!" she screamed in confusion.


	61. Foxy Pirates Pt 5

_**A.n I own Noting**_

 _ **Since my last post I have had a lot of people PM me about Connor being unable to participate in the Davy Back Fights due to his age. My reasons for this is simple 1: many readers did not want to see Connor be chosen when I announced that I was doing this Arc. 2: A lot of sports have Age limits on participation, it's mainly for safety reasons and so kids don't**_

 _ **The fact is this is a Pirate Game with it's own rules and played by Adults for other adults as the prize. In a game like this I am sure there would be a minimum age requirement. Since at this point in the story most of the Straw Hats are under 18 I went with 16 as that seems to be the average adult age in the One Piece world. The Straw Hat's frequently consume large amounts of Alcohol and Sabo did once say that Nobles become adults at 18. There may be some variation on adult ages bestrewn different islands though.**_

 _ **Oh and to that Guest User who asked me why Connor could watch the fights and when he was not participating...it's a game. You can watch games even it your not participating in them. Most people who go to sporting events like Football or Hokey or the Olympics go to watch not play. Pretty much all of Foxy's crew aren't participating in the Davy Back Fights and they are watching so Connor can too.**_

 _ **As Always Please Review**_

* * *

After the Straw Hats rowed there boat back to shore and they took a moment to catch their breaths as the race had been exhausting. Robin was not as out of breath as Nami and Usopp mainly due to the fact that she had used her powers to help with the rowing. The whole crew was confused as to what had happened and Chopper began looking over Usopp, Nami and Robin for injures but could find nothing.

"I don't see any injuries," Chopper claimed.

"What happened?" Usopp asked "How did we lose?"

"You guys were just about to cross the finish line and then you just slowed down and were passed," Luffy claimed.

"We slowed down...that's not possible," Nami claimed.

The crew herd Foxy laughing and looked at him as he came over with both Porche and Hamberg by his side.

"Well that was certainly a close race," Foxy said "But in the end my team won...so that means you lose one of yours,"

"Hold on, something happened at the end of the race," Luffy claimed "my crew were about to win then they just slowed down,"

"Oh that...that was me," Foxy announced.

"You?" Sanji asked.

"Yes, you see ate the Noro-Noro no Mi(Slow-Slow Fruit)," Foxy said with a devious smile.

"Noro-Noro...what's that do?" Robin asked.

"Noro is an unregistered photon that cancels out momentum," Foxy claimed.

"Mo...Momentum? Connor asked confused.

"But...that's not possible," Robin said.

"I don't get it," Luffy said.

"Boss perhaps a demonstration is in order," Hamberg suggested.

"Good idea, go grab a bazooka from the ship,"

Hamberg did as he was told and ran back onto Foxy's ship, he came back a few minutes later holding a Bazooka and he and Foxy moved away from the other pirates.

"Watch closely now," Foxy said and he put his ring finger and thumb together.

Hamberg fired the weapon and a small cannonball h

"NORO-NORO BEAM!" Foxy cried.

A pink beam of energy emitted from the pirates fingers that hit both the cannon ball and Hamberg. The cannon ball halted almost completely but it continued on its projected path in a very sluggish and slow motion. The crew stared at it in shock.

"What?" Nami gasped.

"That...that can't be," Robin said in shock

"Cool, how are you doing that?" Luffy asked in awe.

"I told you, the Noro-Noro fruit gave me the power to reduce momentum...basically I can slow anything down to a near standstill," Foxy explained "the affect lasts 30seconds before whatever is slowed regains it's speed. After that it continues like it was never slowed in the first place,"

"Naturally if you hit someone while under the effects of the Noro-Noro beam they won't feel it nor will they take any damage until they speed up again," Foxy added.

The cannonball then hit foxy and exploded in his face.

'He's and idiot,' the crew thought.

"Hang on that's cheating," Connor cried "your team cheated,"

"Huh...no we didn't," Foxy claimed.

"He's right we didn't break any rules," Porche agreed.

"Yes you did, we were about to win when you used your power on ours...that is cheating," Sanji claimed.

"The rules of the race were simple, first team to complete a lap of the Island would be the winner...and our team won," Foxy claimed "It was an anything goes race after all,"

"But was only for the competitors...right?" Usopp asked.

Foxy burst out laughing.

"Oh your one of those crews," Foxy laughed.

"What's that mean?" Nami asked.

"It means that the rules also apply crew members not participating in the event," Porche said "Basically once the event starts the rest of the crew can interfere as long as the rules of the game are obeyed,"

"The only Pirates who believe in fair play are stupid pirates," Hamberg laughed.

"It's like that old saying, it's only cheating if you get caught," Foxy said seriously.

The crew glared at Foxy in response.

"So now that you know why you lost it's time for me to take my prize," Foxy declared "one of you must now join my crew...and the one I want is..."

Foxy paused for dramatic affect and looked over all the Straw Hats. The Straw Hats waited one edge in anticipation for the captain to make his decision.

"You," Foxy said and pointed directly at chopper "The doctor, Toni Toni Chopper,"

"Huh...me?" Chopper asked.

"Yep, bring him over boys," Foxy said.

Two of Foxy's men went over and picked up the tiny doctor by his arms and carried him over there captain. Chopper struggled all the way

"What...no...no let me go...I don't want to leave let me go," Chopper cried as he was carried over to Foxy.

Once he was over at Foxy the pirate captain grabbed him and hugged him like a teddy bear, rubbing his face against his fur.

"He's so soft...softer than I imagined," Foxy said happily.

"Boss let me hold him," Porche said eagerly.

Foxy handed him over and the other pirate also snuggled agenst him.

"Your right he's like a teddy bear...and he's as cute as one too," Porche said happily.

A few other female members of Foxy's crew came over and they took turns in cuddling the doctor. The Straw Hats watched the other crew in a mix of sympathy and confusion.

"Poor Chopper," Nami said sadly "why did they have to choose him,"

"I mean...it makes," Robin said "when it comes right down to it he would be the obvious choice,"

"Agreed, how many talking animals have we met out here on the grand line," Zoro agreed.

"Aw...they took our emergency food supply," Luffy whined "bunch of jerks,"

Nami and Usopp looked at Luffy.

"That is what your worried about?" they both asked.

Foxy approached his crew with something in his hand and the girls put Chopper down and the doctor looked up at the other pirate captain in fear.

"All my crew wear these," Foxy said and put a black eye mask on Choppers face along with back fox ears on his hat "we also have ears too,"

Chopper looked around as some of the Foxy pirates came over and welcomed Chopper into their crew.

"Wow a new doctor...great to meet you," one of the crew said.

"Yeah we get into a lot of scrapes, so we'll be counting on you to fix us up," another said.

"Hey we've never had a reindeer on our crew before. If you have any dietary requirements let the cooks know," a third said.

Chopper looked around fearfully; he did not want to join this pirate crew at all. They all looked big and tough and scary, he wanted to be with Luffy.

"I...I...I DON'T WANT THIS!" Chopper suddenly cried out "I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE...I ONLY CAME OUT TO SEA BECAUSE LUFFY ASKED ME...I DON'T WANT TO BE ON ANY OTHER PIRATE CREW!"

"CHOPPER SHUT UP!" Zoro yelled angrily "IT'S DISGRACEFUL!"

Chopper instantly stopped and looked at the swordsman as did the rest of the both pirate crews.

"Going out to sea was your decision, you chose to come with us, you chose to follow Luffy and in doing so you chose to participate in this game. No matter how you look at it coming out here was your responsibility, Nami, Usopp and Robin all fought there hardest..." Zoro said.

He then looked at Chopper with a very frighting glare.

"So don't you dare disrespect them or anybody else by blaming them," Zoro warned "Just sit down, shut up and watch the next game. Because no one is going to show you any sympathy out here,"

"Zoro how can you say such things, don't you even think about Choppers feelings?" Nami scolded.

Chopper however seemed to understand Zoro's words and took them to heart and he swallowed his tears and fears.

"Fine do whatever you want," Chopper declared.

Nami was surprised at Choppers sudden change in attitude as were the Foxy pirates. The other crew began to praise Zoro.

"Whoa...that swordsman is so cool," one of Foxy's men praised.

"Boss let's take him next," another said.

"All right now that the exchange of crew has been done on to the next event...The Groggy Ring," The Announcer announced.

"Groggy Ring...what's that?" Usopp asked.

"It's a ball game," Foxy answered.

"Oh so this is the sport part of the Davy Back Fight," Robin said.

"Yep, we've got a field already set up," Foxy said "Follow us,"

The Straw Hats followed the Foxy pirates to where a large sport filed had been drawn up; at each end was a single rubber ring to indicate goals.

"Could both competing teams' pleas enter the field, all spectators please stand to the side," the Announcer requested.

"Hold on wasn't Chopper supposed to compete in the second event?" Usopp asked.

"Yes but he was taken for our loss on the first event," Robin reminded.

"That's right, Choppers one of us now and that means he is on our team. There are no changing competitors once the games start," Porche said.

"I see, if your taken then you can't play for your crew...leaving your friends with a disadvantage," Robin said.

"That's a dirty tactic," Nami claimed.

"Only if you're the loser, for the winning team it's ideal," Robin said.

"That's okay, we'll mange without Chopper," Zoro assured as he walked onto the field.

Sanji followed him and once they were both on the field Zoro looked at the cook.

"You sure you want to play, it's not too late for you to back out pansy," Zoro said.

"I was just about to say the same to you moss head," Sanji said.

"You know maybe it wasn't a good idea to enter both Zoro and Sanji in an event that requires teamwork," Connor pointed out.

"Don't worry they'll be fine," Luffy assured.

"YOU WANT TO FIGHT?!" Sanji and Zoro said that the same time.

"STOP THAT!" Nami yelled.

"The Straw Hats team are down one competitor and will have to go through the next event with only two people," the Announcer declared "the Straw Hats are already on the field...and look here comes the Foxy's team,"

The rest of Foxy's crew and the Straw Hats turned their attention to Foxy's team who was approaching. Hamberg was in the lead but he was also the smallest player.

"First on the field is Team Captain Hamberg," the Announcer announced as Hamberg walked onto the field "Behind him is Pickles,"

Pickles was a large husky man with relatively long arms and short legs and a hippo-like face. He wore green schemed clothes with the Foxy mask and ears on his face and round pauldrons on his shoulders.

"He's huge, how are we going to compete against that," Usopp asked worriedly.

"And the last to arrive is Big Pan...The half Giant-Half Fishman," The Announcer claimed.

"THE WHAT!" Usopp screamed.

Big pan entered the field, he was a gigantic Wotan that towered over all the other Pirates; he had orange hair and beard. He wore yellow swim briefs, boots and gloves together and the Foxy Pirate mask.

"I've never seen a combination of a Fishman and Giant before," Nami said "I didn't know they did could breed with other species,"

"They can, but it is rare as they prefer their own," Robin claimed "He is still smaller than a regular giant though,"

"Yes Big Pan has a verity of unique traits thanks to his mixed heritage. From his Fishman half, Big Pan's skin is as slippery as a mudfish, he has sharp teeth, and even a dorsal fin on his back. From his giant half he has incredible size and strength," the Announcer claimed "please welcome the Groggy Monsters,"

Foxys team cheered, the Straw Hats however just stared at the Foxys team while Usopp was shaking in fear.

"That's it we're doomed...we're going to lose another shipmate...we can't win," Usopp cried.

"And now I shall explain the rules for the Groggy Ring," the Announcer said "There are two goals, one on each side of the field,"

Sanji and Zoro looked up and down the field and sure enough spied the two goals.

"The first team to get the ball in the goal wins...however the ball is not made of Rubber. One player from each team must be the ball," the Announcer claimed.

"Hold on...that means there are two balls on the field at all times instead of one," Nami said.

"Is that an issue?" Connor asked.

"Most ball sports only have a single ball on the field at one time...this is the first time I've herd of a sport that has two," Nami claimed.

"The aim of the game is to get the other teams' ball into their own goal. Should the Straw Hats ball be thrown into their goal on their side of the field they lose," The Announcer declared.

"Why are we the example?" Usopp muttered.

One of Foxy's crew who was dressed as a Referee came over and asked Hamberg which of the Foxys team wanted to be the ball and Big Pan volunteered, the half giant was given a strap on ball hat and the Referee went over to Zoro and Sanji.

"Which one of you is the ball?" he asked.

"Him," Zoro said and gestured to Sanji.

"Don't just decide that on your own," Sanji said as the ball was put on his head "how could i possibly wear something this lame and stupid looking?"

"Stop complaining," Zoro said and looked at Sanji "huh...that ball is a really good look for you,"

"SHOVE IT UP YOUR ASS!" Sanji yelled back.

Over on in the crowd the Straw Hats were watching and listing to the rules intently, they did not want to lose again. If they did they would only be able to get one crew member back as there was only one more event afterwards.

"This game could be dangerous...if we lose we not only lose chopper but someone else too," Usopp said.

"Don't worry, once the game starts we won't have any trouble," Nami assured.

"Are you sure about that...your Nakama look like they don't have any team spirt," Foxy said and pointed to Zoro and Sanji.

Zoro and Sanji were still arguing about who was going to wear the silly looking ball hat.

"I don't think I'll need to interfere in this game," Foxy said "the winner has already been decided after all,"

"But the match hasn't started yet," Luffy pointed out.

"Doesn't matter. Hamberg, Pickles and Big Pan are Groggy ring experts. They have never lost a single game of Groggy Ring," Foxy bragged.

"You can interfere in games?" Connor asked looking up at the other captain.

"Of course, once it starts and as long as it doesn't break any rules or if it dose and you don't get caught. You can interfere in any game as you see fit," Foxy boasted.

"Can anyone interfere?" Connor asked.

"Only if your part of the crew who is competing," Foxy said "You would be surprised how many people don't realise they can interfere in games,"

Connor turned back to look at Big Pan thoughtfully. Meanwhile on the field the Referee was quickly losing his patience with Zoro and Sanji who were still arguing over who was going to be the ball, they had started playing Rock–Paper–Scissors to decide.

"Hah I win, you have to be the ball," Zoro said.

"Like hell, you went after me…you cheated," Sanji fumed.

"No I didn't I'm just stronger than you," Zoro claimed.

"Strength has nothing to do with Rock–Paper–Scissors," Sanji shot back.

"Hey you two, hurry up and pick who the ball is going to be," the Referee demanded.

"He's the ball," Zoro repeated.

"I AM NOT WERING THIS THING AND NOTHING YOU OR ANYONE CAN SAY WILL MAKE ME!" Sanji declared.

"Oh for the love of….Sanji you look so handsome with that ball on you," Nami cried out admiringly.

"I'LL BE THE BALL!" Sanji announced "After all it looks best on me…I look like a prince,"

"You sure do," Zoro agreed "a prince of Retards,"

A fight instantly broke out and Zoro and Sanji began to attack each other.

'We're doomed,' Usopp and Nami sighed together.

The Referee came over and broke up the fight, he also told Zoro that there were no weapons allowed and he would have to part with his swords. Zoro handed them off to Connor to hold and went back onto the field. The Referee tossed a coin to see who would pick witch type of play first and the Foxy's team won.

"Ball or Field?" the Referee asked.

"Ball," Hamberg answered.

"Hey what's the difference?" Zoro asked the Referee.

"Ball is the offensive play and Field is the defensive play," the Referee answered.

Zoro and Sanji nodded.

Once both teams were in positions the Referee blew his whistle to start the game. Foxy's team immediately went on the offensive with Pickles and Hamberg charging in. Pickles attacked Sanji straight away; Sanji however used Piles as a step and lunched himself at Big Pan.

"If I take you out we win," Sanji said as he prepared to kick the half Giant.

However as soon as his shoe touched Big Pans skin Sanji began to slip.

"What...why is he so slippery?" Sanji asked. As he tried to keep his balance but found it very difficult to do so.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING YOU IDIOT!" Zoro yelled angrily.

"SHUT UP...HE'S TOO SLIPPERY!" Sanji shot back.

"Oh looks like Sanji has discovered Big Pans slippery skin," the Announcer claimed "Big Pan's Fishman side is a mudfish so his skin is incredibly slippery,"

"Wait what?" Sanji asked and looked up at the Announcer.

However in Sanji's momentarily distraction Big Pan brought his hand over and grabbed Sanji, he then threw him through the air across the felid. Hamberg raced past Zoro to catch him.

"Hamberg makes a dash for the Ball, can he catch it and score the goal?" the Announcer asked.

"Shit," Zoro hissed and he started running to catch up with Hamberg while keeping an eye on Sanji so he would know where he would land.

"Don't you dare fall in the goal you useless cook," Zoro warned.

Suddenly Pickles tackled Zoro from behind and continued to run down the felid, Hamberg jumped into the air and grabbed Sanji by his hips.

"Hey let go...hey..." Sanji said as Hamberg threw him towards Pickles.

Zoro got back up and ran as fast as he could towards Pickles but the Foxy pirate started to spin around and Zoro was blown back, Sanji landed in Pickles spin and was launched back into the air. Big Pan ran down the field and using one of his gloved covered hands as a landing point Hamberg jumped back into the air and grabbed Sanji again...only this time he was right above the Straw Hats goal.

"We win," Hamberg said happily and he got ready to throw Sanji.

However Sanji had had enough of being tossed around and kicked Hamberg in the face, sending him flying towards the ground. At the same time Zoro Grabbed Pickles by his leg and started to spin him around and let him go, the two Foxy pirates collided with each other and landed outside the field.

"OUT!" The Announcer cried.

Sanji landed in front of the goal.

"Amazing not only have the Straw Hats made a comeback but they have also caused two of the Foxy's team to be out for five minutes as leaving the felid incurs a penalty," The Announcer declared.

"That's handy," Zoro said.

"Yeah, that mean we can deal with him without any issue," Sanji said and turned to look at Big Pan.

Over on the side lines the Luffy and Usopp were cheering for Zoro's and Sanjis amazing counterattack, the rest of the crew were relived as well. Foxy and his crew on the other hand were shocked and left slack jawed at the sheer strength and power that the two Straw Hats possessed. The only one on Foxy's side that seemed to be happy was Chopper but he had a hard time expressing it as he was being smothered by Porche.

"Alright, I knew they could do it," Nami cheered "Not they just need to get the other teams ball in the goal and...wait...WHY ARE THEY FIGHTING!"

Zoro and Sanji were indeed fighting each other again; they were in a middle of an argument over who should take the lead in the final push.

"The straw hat's team is acting weird, the Foxy's team ball is undefended and yet they are arguing amongst themselves," The Announcer cried.

"What the hell are they doing?" Nami yelled "Why are they fighting each other instead of winning the game?"

Sanji's and Zoro's argument was cut short when Big Pan tried to step on them; they jumped out of the way and started running up the felid with Big Pan chasing them trying to squash them with his giant feet. Zoro and Sanji noticed that on the base of his shoes were very sharp spikes.

"What the hell...he has spikes on his shoes," Zoro cried.

"But weapons are forbidden," Sanji claimed.

He looked over to the Referee.

"Hey Ref...look he has spikes on his shoes, that's illegal," Sanji called out.

The Referee just looked at Sanji and Zoro before turning away.

"I don't see anything," the Referee said.

"WHAT!" Sanji yelled.

"How can you not see them...they're right there," Usopp pointed out.

The Referee refused to look and started whiling, ignoring the Straw Hats.

Luffy and Usopp tried to get the Referee to look and admit that he had seen the weaponised shoes but the Referee refused to even acknowledge them. Sanji had enough and he ran out of Big Pans path and kicked his shoe at the Referee hitting him square in the face. Sanji was rewarded with a Yellow card which only made him angrier, and he came over to teach the Referee a lesson in fair play.

Usopp had to hold him back from attacking the Referee any further.

"Where did Big Pan get that Axe from?" Connor asked suddenly.

"Huh...Axe?" Sanji asked and turned back to look at Big Pan who was still chasing Zoro only now he was swinging a comically large Axe.

"AN AXE...HE HAS AN AXE!" Sanji yelled "DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!"

What Axe?" the Referee asked.

"That's it I'm kicking his ass," Luffy declared.

"DON'T MAKE MATTERS WORSE!" Usopp pleaded as he tried to hold Luffy back.

"The Foxy's team ball is undefended...what's this Pickles and Hamberg are getting back on the field?!" the Announcer asked "It hasn't been five minutes yet,"

Sanji turned around and Foxy's team was indeed back on the field, but what was worse was that Hamberg equipped himself with iron knuckle dusters and some elbow blades; Pickles attached some spiked shoulder pads to his shoulders.

"OH COME ON...THAT HAS TO BE VIOLATION OF THE RULES!" Sanji yelled.

"Not only has Foxy's team come back onto the field early but they have also brought weapons too...oh look the Referee is not paying attention," the Announcer claimed.

the Referee has his back to the game and was doing some stretches.

"I'LL F***** KILL YOU!" Sanji screamed in rage.

"Sanji just go back out there and win," Nami ordered, she had had enough of Sanji's behaviour.

"Yessss Nami-Swann," Sanji said eagerly and ran back out onto the field.

Sanji ran back over to Zoro and the game continued, but since the other team had weapons the Foxy pirates swiftly overwhelmed both Zoro and Sanji with their combination attacks and it was worse than before due to the weapons. Within minutes Zoro and Sanji were beaten and bloodied that they were in no shape to continue. Despite the obvious slaughter the Referee refused to stop the game or even penalise the Foxy's crew for their sheer brutally.

Despite there injuries Zoro and Sanji stood back up and looked over at the opposing team.

"You know...these guys are really starting to annoy me," Sanji said dangerously.

"Yeah...that Ref too," Zoro agreed.

"Want to take them both out at once?" Sanji asked.

"Shouldn't take longer than ten seconds," Zoro said seriously.

Sanji nodded and they both charged straight for the Foxy's team. Hamberg launched himself at Sanji intending to impale him with his Elbow blades but Sanji jumped in the air to avoid him and kicked the gorilla in the face before landing behind him and kicking him serval times in the back. He then jumped up again and spin kicked Hamberg off the field.

"OUT! Hamberg is under a 5 minute penalty for leaving the field," The Announcer declared "But it looks like he's out could so it may be longer,"

"One down...two to go," Sanji said.

Pickles glared at Sanji.

"You'll pay for that," Pickles declared.

He started spinning towards the cook but Zoro got in his way and like last time he grabbed pikles and lunched him into the air. This time Zoro was aiming for Big Pan and due to the fact that Pickles was still spinning the spiked shoulder blades acted like a drill. Pickles hit Big Pan in the chest and the force from the spin caused him to step back a few paces until Pickles stopped. Big Pan wobbled a bit and looked like he was about to fall over.

Sanji rushed past Zoro and ran behind Big Pan, he leapt into the air and gave the half giant a strong Kick in the centre of the back forcing Big Pan to stand up straight again. Zoro started running towards Big Pan and Pickles got in the way. Sanji suddenly appeared and kicked him off to the side sending him flying into the Referee.

"You're both in the way," Sanji said.

He then turned and started to run towards Zoro. Zoro and Sanji ran towards each other and Sani lifted his leg preparing a kick, Zoro jumped and landed on it and Sanji kicked Zoro into the air.

Zoro was flung straight up towards Big Pan's head and he grabbed the half giant by the top of his jaw, and pulled him throw the air with him. Zoro held onto Big pan and when the swords man started to descend and Zoro shifted his strength into directing Big Pans head straight into the goal ring.

"GOALLLLLLLLL" the Announcer cried "IT'S A GOALLLL!"

The Straw Hats started cheering and the Referee crawled out from underneath Pickles.

"That's it, I'll disqualify that Straw hat," The Referee said and he blew his whistle.

"That's it, the Referee has declared the end of the match," the Announcer declared "the Straw Hats have won the Groggy ring,"

"Wait...WHATTT!" the Referee screamed.

He quickly got up and looked at the field to see that all of the Groggy monsters were unconscious and Big Pans head was in the goal ring; the only ones left standing were Zoro and Sanji, both of them had a smug looks on their faces.


	62. Foxy Pirates Pt 6

_**A.N I own Nothing**_

* * *

Zoro and Sanji walked off the field towards the rest of the crew; they had won the second game in the Davy Back Fight. The Foxy's crew dragged their team off as well and those that played back to the ship to see the doctors.

"Good job guys, I knew you could do it," Luffy praised.

"If they could have won by working together in the first place then why did they spend so much time arguing?" Nami asked.

"I'm surprised they aware able to work together at all," Usopp commented.

"Well we won in the end so I guess it doesn't really matter," Nami sighed.

Sanji came over to both Nami and Robin.

"Nami-Swannn, Robin-Chawn...did you see me win? Have you both fallen in love with me now?" Sanji asked.

Nami rolled her eyes.

"You did very well," Robin said sweetly and gave Sanji a light kiss on the cheek.

Sanji instantly shot up into the air like a rocket and flew around for a bit' everyone watched him and followed with their heads before the cook crash landed and fainted out of pure happiness with hearts in his eyes.

"Pervert," Zoro commented.

Connor walked up to Zoro and held out his swords.

"Here are your swords back," Connor said and held them out.

"Thanks kid," Zoro said and he took back his blades.

After the Foxy's team had taken the Groggy Monsters to the infirmary Zoro had a chance to rest and Sanji had recovered from Robin light kiss on the cheek; the time came for Luffy to choose his prize. Foxy and his crew waited in suspense as Luffy looked over them all. A few of Foxy's crew were trembling in fear of being chosen as they assumed that the rubber captain would choose them; after a few moments Luffy suddenly spoke.

"Alright I have decided, the one I want is..." Luffy started.

"Hold on," Nami interrupted.

"What is it?" Usopp asked.

"We still have one more game to play right?" Nami asked.

"That's right, it's between Luffy and Foxy," Robin stated.

"Whatever game we play and whatever rules there may be, I'm sure Foxy will be up to his usual tricks and if you get hit by his Noro-Noro beam it won't matter what the rules are. He'll have a huge advantage right away,"

"What's your point?" Zoro asked.

"Well since we won the second game why don't we take Foxy himself as our prize?" Nami asked with a sly smile "that way we win the next game by default because the line-up can't be changed and players can't be substituted,"

"Wait...they...they want to pick our boss?" one of Foxy's men asked in shock.

"That's not a bad idea, if we pick Foxy then we won't have to play the next game and the chance of losing another crew member becomes zero," Usopp agreed.

"Plus having someone that can slow things right down would be useful," Sanji agreed "especially if we got into a sea battle,"

"It would be very advantages," Robin agreed.

"Can they even do that?" another asked.

"Well...it's not against the rules. Since any member of the crew can be chosen," Porche said "after all we have picked captains to join our crew before too,"

"But that's cheating," one yelled out.

"But your backing out of a fight," one of Foxy's pirates yelled.

"You dirty cowards, this is not how pirates fight," another cried out "we all thought you were cool but clearly you're not,"

"Yeah we all agreed to fight fair and square," another shouted.

"But you guys cheated first...in fact your team has done nothing but cheat," Connor pointed out.

"Your just a kid, you wouldn't understand the complexity of adult life," one of the pirates scoffed.

"At least I know what playing fair is," Connor shot back.

"Don't even bother Connor," Sanji advised.

"So it's okay for them to cheat but when we do it we're the bad guys...how is that fair?" Connor demanded.

"Let it go kid, they're not worth it," Zoro advised.

Connor wanted to say something more but he held his tongue, he shot the Foxy pirates a hate filled glare. He knew life was not fair but he really hated it when those who made the rules or used them to get what they wanted out of everyone else refused to abide by the same rules when they were turned on them.

"This is a surprising turn of events, are the Straw Hats actually considering this. Even though taking the enemy leader on the second round would mean running from a fight. In the whole history the Foxy Davy Back Fights, many have thought about it but none have actually done it," the Announcer claimed.

"SHE JUST SAID YOU DID DO IT!" Nami yelled and pointed a Porche.

"More likely because the other crews never won or got the chance to choose someone from Foxy's due to his cheating," Connor commented.

"Oh what an evil, evil woman the Straw Hat Navigator is, only someone who doesn't have a soul would ever suggest something like that," the Announcer continued.

Foxy's crew started to boo and hiss at Nami, while the Announcer went on and on about how unfair the decision was and how terrible of a person Nami was for thinking of it. Nami retreated to Robin and started to cry.

"Oi stop picking on Nami-Swan, I'll kick your assess," Sanji yelled.

"I hate those guys, why are they picking on me," Nami cried.

"I agree with Nami's plan," Usopp said, voicing his opinion.

"Nami don't cry, you are the one at fault here," Zoro claimed.

Nami instantly recovered and beat Zoro into the ground; she then turned and gave the Foxy Pirates a dark look.

"Shut up all of you, do you want to end up like him?" Nami asked.

"We're very sorry," the whole of Foxy's crew instantly apologised.

Nami then turned to Luffy.

"Hurry up and pick Foxy so we can get Chopper back and be done with this whole pointless game," Nami ordered.

'Damn it Straw hat...are you really going to choose me?' Foxy thought 'well I am the natural choice after all, my talent, charm and incredible strength makes me the obvious choice...Yes that's it you must have been taken by my charm,'

"Okay I have decided," Luffy said.

'So this is it...farewell my loyal pirate crew, when I leave you I won't cry, I will be strong, I will be inspiring, I will be...' Foxy continued to think as he braced himself for Luffys decision.

"Hold on Nami, your plan is both logical and would guarantee us the win in the next game. But if we go through with it, doesn't that mean that Foxy will have to sail with us from now on?" Robin asked.

"No we don't want him," Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Connor and Usopp all said at the same time.

"GAHHHHH!" Foxy screamed and collapsed to the ground depressed.

"Oh no boss," Porche cried.

"His fragile emotions have shattered and he caved in again," one of his crew stated.

"Those Straw Hats are the worse...they're too mean with they're words," another said.

"Yeah they should watch what they say," another agreed.

"Boss to us your irreplaceable," Porche assured.

"That's right, your our one and only boss," one of Foxy's crew agreed.

"Yeah you'll show them in the next round how amazing you truly are," another agreed.

"You guys…you're the best crew anyone could ever ask for," Foxy said tearing up "I don't need the Straw Hat's…all I have ever need was you…I'm sorry I ever doubted that fact,"

"We love you boss," the whole crew cheered.

"Stop being a clown," Sanji said "it no wonder no one likes or wants you,"

Foxy collapsed on the ground again.

"Oi stop that, hurry up and choose, the boss can't handle this kind of emotional stress," Porche said.

"How are these guys pirates again?" Usopp asked.

Once Foxy had returned to a somewhat stable emotional state Luffy finally let everyone know his decision.

"Come back Chopper," Luffy called out.

Chopper instantly ran over back over to the rest of the crew and threw off his eye mask and fake ears. He jumped into Luffy's arms and cried happily. He was happy to be back with his friends, Porche and the other female members of Foxy's crew were very upset that Chopper had been taken back by Luffy.

Once Chopper was reunited a large cannon was brought out and Foxy brought Luffy over to it. Luffy wondered what it was used for.

"This will determine the arena for the next round," Foxy explained "we both spin the cannon and where it points is the location of the next game,"

"Ohhh sounds like fun," Luffy said enthusiastically.

He and Foxy spun the cannon together and it spun round in a circle. it slowed down and it looked like it would stop on the open field of the island but it instantly turned and pointed to the Foxys Pirate Ship.

"Oh looks like the random spin landed on my ship...lucky me," Foxy said in fake surprise.

"HOW WAS THAT RANDOM...IT'S RIGGED!" Usopp cried.

"We will now start the last event of the Davy Back Fight...this will be a Captains Fight," the Announcer declared "let me explain the rules...could one of the captains fire the cannon please,"

"Oh...Me," Luffy said and raised his hand "I want to do it,"

Foxy stepped aside and let Luffy fire the cannon; a cannon ball flew into the air and towards the ship. It landed just before it hit the main mast of the Sexy Foxy in the direct centre of the ship.

"The cannon is pointed towards The Sexy Foxy, Captain Foxy's ship. It will serve as the Arena, where the cannon ball landed will be the centre and everything within 50 meters is part of the arena...that is a 100 meter circle," the Announcer claimed.

"Well...at least Luffy will have plenty of room to move," Zoro said.

"Anything found on the ship may be used; this includes all weapons, guns and ammunition. Fighters may not bring in any from the outside. As this is a one on one fight between captains all crew members are forbidden from entering the arena once both captains are ready. If any crew member enters the area under any circumstances their captain will be immediately disqualified,"

"Also please remember all space inside the area counts as the filed, this includes the the ocean below and the sky above. If someone falls outside the 100 meter diameter only then will it be considered a ring out,"

"So this one is all up to Luffy then," Sanji said.

"Yes it could be a tricky fight, who knows what traps and other things foxy has on that ship...not to mention Luffy could get hit by the Noro-Noro Beam as well," Robin claimed.

"While the fighters get ready and our crew mark the outline of the ring, the stands are selling some merchandise to commemorate this event, also food and drink are available for purchase as well," the Announcer claimed "Please take this time to look and buy Foxy Pirates memorabilia,"

While Foxy was getting ready and his crew were stringing together some floating balls to mark the area boundaries the Straw Hats wandered through the stalls looking at the merchandise. None of them were really interested in buying anything but Sanji ran off to get some drinks and snacks for the fight.

"Look at this junk...who would actually buy this crap?" Nami asked in disgust.

"Luffy and Usopp apparently," Connor answered and he pointed to a nearby stand.

Nami looked and saw Luffy and Usopp were standing there and the stall owner handed them something.

"Here you go your limited edition Foxy Pin. Enjoy," the stall owner said.

"DON'T PAY FOR THAT PIECE OF OVERPRICED CRAP!" Nami scolded.

Just then one of Foxy's crew came over to them.

"Excuse me, but where is your teams' fighter?" he asked.

"Over there," Zoro said and pointed at Luffy.

"Do you mind if i take him now, he needs to prepare for the fight," the man said.

"HURRY UP AND TAKE HIM BEFORE HE WASTES ANYMORE OF MY MONEY!" Nami screamed.

The man from Foxy's crew walked over to Luffy and Usopp and led them away towards the ship.

"Oh there you are," Tonjit said "look what I just bought,"

The old man held up a painting of Foxy without his shirt on as a mermaid in a sexy pose that was truly something no one should ever see.

"Why would you spend money on that?" Nami asked.

"It has a certain appal and I think it will lighten up my hut don't you?" Tonjit asked.

"i think i need gouge my eyes out," Nami commented.

"Well beauty is in the eye of the beholder after all...I'm going to get a good seat for the fight," Tonjit said and walked off.

"Beauty maybe in the eye of the beholder but there is no beauty in that picture or in Foxy at all," Zoro said.

"That man has strange tastes in art," Robin commented.

Not long afterwards the start of the Captains Fight was announced and everyone from both crews made their way to the seating stands that had been set up. While everyone could clearly see the deck of the Sexy Foxy Sanji was a bit concerned what would happen if the fight moved to the interior of the ship where no one would be able to see what would happen.

Once everyone was seated the fight became in a spectacular show with fireworks, smoke and lights and projections of their bounty posters in the sky that introduced the two captains. When both captains came out they both had no shirt on and were only wearing pants, shoes and boxing gloves. Luffy also had an Afro which impressed Sanji and Zoro.

The rest of the crew came however had no clue why he was wearing an Afro wig or why Usopp claimed that because Luffy had the Afro there was no way he could lose.

Once both captains had been introduced and were ready the fight started.

Luffy started off trying to end the fight quickly in one punch but Foxy hit him with his Noro-Noro beam and then gave the rubber captain a series of jabs; it quickly became apparent that Foxy had no intention of fighting fair at all as his boxing gloves became spiky and his blows pierced Luffy's rubber skin. Once the effect of the Noro-Noro fruit had worn off Luffy was blown back but his rubber body did not receive any damage. Luffy ran towards foxy and kept trying to punch him but Foxy was quick to counter with his Noro-Noro powers.

Luffy eventually avoided one of his beams and finally got a good hit in, unfortunately it was not enough to and Foxy was blown back further into the deck. When luffy got there he was shocked to see that the air was filled with Cannon Balls that seemed to just be floating there.

Luffy carefully avoided them but it was not long before the cannon balls started moving again and each one hit, while this would not normally be a problem for the rubber captain as he has been known to bounce them back. However due to him being so close the cannon balls did not have the momentum required to bounce off Luffys body and blew up in his face.

Sadly Luffy was not immune to explosions.

Once all the explosions had passed and the smoke cleared Luffy found himself face to face with several dozen arrows hovering in the air and all of them were pointing at him. His face paled and Luffy turned to run, unfortunately for him the arrows regained their momentum and flew after him.

Luffy ran to the other side of the ship and jumped over the railing, he hung onto the ship and dangled over the side as the arrows flew over him and remembered themselves in the railing. Once the arrows had passed Luffy climbed back up and looked for Foxy, he saw the other captain off into the ship and Luffy ran after him.

* * *

The Crew were watching from the stands in anticipation, since both Captains had gone inside the ship no one knew what was going on...although the explosions and loud crashes definitely meant the fight was still going on.

"What's going on in there?" Nami wondered.

"Luffy's probably breaking stuff," Zoro answered.

"Yeah I almost feel sorry for the Foxy Pirates, when Luffys done they are going to need some serious repairs to their ship," Sanji agreed.

"Depending on how far the battle escalates they may be unable to sail at all and might need to get a brand new ship," Robin said.

"But this island has no shipyard or any place to buy supplies," Connor pointed out.

"That is not our problem," Nami claimed.

"But if Luffy's the one who destroys the ship..." Connor started.

"Your forgetting it was Foxy who challenged Luffy to the Davy Back Fight in the first place. So anything that happens to his crew and his ship is Foxy's responsibility...even if that means Luffy destroys it,"

"He's right Connor, maybe this will teach him not to play such a stupid game," Nami claimed.

* * *

Inside the ship Luffy was filled with booby traps and Luffy was very quickly setting them all off. A few of these inculded a room filled with cannons...which Luffy set off inside the ship, Foxy dressing himself up as a nurse who Luffy mistakenly took for Foxy's sister and when he went back to confirm it he saw Foxy getting out of the costume. Several sharp mechanical attachments for the boxing gloves...Luffy found these fun and turned them on the other pirate captain and chased him around the ship.

Luffy eventually chased Foxy into the kitchen where a chief was cutting up some fish and he nearly fell for the same disguise trick twice, the only reason it didn't work was because he called Foxy's hair stupid and chief became comically depressed. Foxy quickly recovered and blasted Luffy with his Noro-Noro Beam before punching him heavly with this boxing gloves. Luffy started to slowly move towards a metal door at the back of the kitchen and Foxy opened it. When the beams effects wore off luffy flew threw the door and down a metal shaft.

He landed in a thin hallway with metal walls. Luffy looked around for Foxy or the exit.

"Huh...huh...where did he go?" Luffy asked.

He looked down the hall behind him and saw that there was a giant mirror not far from him.

"A mirror...what's this for?" Luffy wondered.

Luffy suddenly herd a mechanical noise and he looked behind him to see a large walls with a lot of boxing gloves sticking out coming towards him. At the top Foxy sat at the controls driving it.

"Lets see you doge these Straw Hat," Foxy laughed.

The wall began to shot punches out and Luffy dodged one or tow but they quickly became closer, faster and harder to dodge. However the gloves stopped inches from the mirror wall behind Luffy and not once did they make contact with the mirror or the walls of the ship.

Luffy accidentally got hit by one and he caught on fire from the blow. He started to panic and dropped and rolled on the ground to put the fire out.

"Oh did I forget to mention that each one of these gloves sets fire to what ever they come into contact with?" Foxy asked.

'Wait...he's not using his beam power,' Luffy thought 'why isn't he using it? If he hit me with it i would be at his mercy,'

Luffy glanced behind him at the mirror, he then remembered that in the cannon room and the infirmary Foxy had not used his powers either.

Suddenly something clicked in Luffys head as he realised he had just discovered Foxy's weakness. Luffy dodged the next strike from the machine Foxy was driving and then turned and punched the Mirror breaking it. He then jumped in the air and punched Foxy in the face; Foxy was so angry that he unleashed several Noro-Noro beams and Luffy smiled. He ducked out of the way and the beams reflected off the mirror and hit the Machine that Foxy was in. Luffy took the opportunity and jumped up to the controls where he clocked Foxy under the jaw and sent him flying straight up through the deck. Luffy reached back to the ground and grabbed something before following the other captain back onto the top deck.

* * *

Meanwhile the rest of the two crews were wondering what was going on as they could still hear the sounds of fighting but had no idea who was winning; not even the Announcer knew what was happening. Suddenly Foxy burst out from under the top deck and landed on the

Luffy appeared a few seconds later, everyone could see that Luffy was very badly injured and it was clear that he would not last much longer.

"Straw Hat..." Foxy growled hatefully.

Luffy charged forward towards Foxy and the two began exchanging blows again.

"The Captin's are back and it looks like Straw hat Luffy could collapse at any moment,"

Foxy got in several god hits and flung Luffy back across the ship but kept getting back up. Luffy panted and breathed heavily but continued to fight Foxy

Despite his injuries Luffy would not go down, he and Foxy continued to trade blows until Foxy lunged forward to unleash his Noro-Noro beam on Luffy again but the rubber Captain slammed his fist into Foxy's the moment the beam was activated. Everyone watching was stunned as it was not Luffy who had become slower but Foxy.

Suddenly something small and clear dropped from Luffys hand.

"A...A...A...A MIRROR SHARD!" the announcer cried "A mirror shard has fallen from Straw Hat Luffys hands...HE HAS REFLECTED THE NORO-NORO BEAM!"

Luffy stood up and looked at Foxy who was trying to say something but it was coming out in incredibly slowly.

"I picked it up earlier, I noticed that you never used your beam while there was a mirror nearby," Luffy said seriously "and when you did it was reflected back. Now you can't move," Luffy said to Foxy.

He pulled back his arms.

"Now it's my turn. Gomu-Gomu...GATTLING!" Luffy yelled and let loose a flurry of blows. Due to Foxy being slowed down it did not appear to affect him.

Once he was done he stretched his arms straight back.

"GOMU-GOMU ROKET!" Luffy yelled and launched his arms straight into Foxys chest.

"I'm not done yet," Luffy declared and pulled back his Leg as far as it would go.

"And finally Gomu-Gomu...NUTCRACKER!" (1) Luffy yelled and slammed his foot directly between Foxys legs.

Every male member of the audience (which is about 95% of the people watching...Foxy has a lot of crew) winced and let out a collective"Ooooo,"at the rubber captains tactics.

Luffy however stood up straight and walked away from Foxy and started counting down from ten. As he did it was clear that the beams effects were beginning to wear off and the damage Luffy dealt was starting to show. As soon as Luffy reached zero, Foxy received the full force of Luffys attacks and was blown off the ship as a result.

The Straw Hat's all stood up and started to walk off the stands.

"Where are we going?" Connor asked.

"To safety, we don't want to be trampled to death under 500 pirates," Robin answered with a smile.

No sooner had the Straw Hat's all got off the stands Foxy fell into the sea not far from the boat outside of the boundary ring around the ship. The straw hat's cheered while the rest of Foxy's crew stared in shock.

"The landing point is….outside the ring!" the Announcer cried "Foxy who has just been knocked outside the arena's boundaries,"

"THE WINNER IS STRAW HAT LUFFY!" the Announcer declared "AND UNDER THE THREE COIN MATCH RULE THE DAVY BACK FIGHT IS OVER!"

It took a moment for everyone to process what had just happened, Foxy the man who lied, cheated and did every dirty and underhanded trick in the book to win…the man with over 900 consecutive Davy Back Fight victories had just lost.

After a few seconds the rest of Foxy's crew realised that Foxy could not swim due to his devil fruit ability. They all suddenly stood up and rushed to the edge of the stand at once pushing and stepping over each other as they all attempted to save their captain. A few fell off the stands and one or two landed in the ocean but most of the crew were tangled up or trampled over…it was chaos and that very chaos kept them trapped stuck in the stand.

Since the Straw Hat's had left the stand prior to Foxy falling into the ocean they were safely out of the way and they saw no reason to help the other Captain either.

"Oi Chopper, I think Luffy needs his doctor," Zoro stated.

Chopper looked up at the first mate for a moment and nodded; he ran onto the Sexy Foxy to start treating Luffy. The rest of the Straw Hats watched as Foxys crew all franticly ran over each other in an attempt to dive in and save Foxy. Robin turned to look at Connor.

"See told you," Robin said.

* * *

 _(1) This is an attack I made up but totally something Luffy would think of…especially for those really annoying enemies….I may infuse this attack with Haki in later chapters._


	63. Foxy Pirates Pt 7

_**I own nothing.**_

 _ **Sorry this took a while, there was a lot cover and work and home life have been pretty busy, it left very little time to write.**_

 _ **Please Review**_

* * *

Luffy slowly opened his eyes and his vision adjusted and the first hing he saw was Chopper's face looking down on him. His body hurt and he took a minute to remember what had happened and once he did he shot straight up ignoring the pain.

"What happened...the game...did i win the game?" Luffy demanded looking around wildly.

"Yeah you won," Zoro claimed.

Luffy relaxed and a smile formed on his face and he lay back down on the grass.

"Good...that's good," Luffy said in relief "How long was I out?"

"Not long, about two hours," Chopper answered.

Luffy nodded.

"I watched and cheered you on without worry, i knew you would win," Usopp claimed and handed Luffy his hat.

"Lier, you were panicking the most," Sanji claimed.

"I was not," Usopp shot back.

"You know I've been thinking...I would have no reason to be a pirate if I left this crew," Zoro said "had Foxy chosen me as a prize i probably would have just gone back to bounty hunting,"

"You mean gone back to wandering around the ocean aimlessly hoping to bump into a pirate to pay for your next meal so you don't starve so you don't starve because you have no sense of direction," Sanji said.

Zoro's eye twitched and the two started fighting. Nami, Usopp, Chopper and Connor sighed. Luffy laughed and Robin let out a small chuckle.

"OI STRAW HAT!" an angry voice called out.

Luffy and his crew looked over to see Foxy coming over.

"How dare you break my 920 win streak," Foxy said.

He then stared at Luffy intently for a moment before he extended his hand.

"Well played, it was a good game," Foxy said.

Luffy and the others were a bit taken aback by this, none of them took Foxy as the type to acknowledge defeat, let alone be a good loser. Luffy however took the other pirates hand and as soon as he did Foxy tried to flip him over but all he did was pull on Luffy's rubber arm and trip himself over. Luffy's crew let out a sigh.

"He's rubber you moron, if you pull on him he just stretches," Nami claimed.

"This guy is stupid," Luffy commented.

"Pfft whatever," Foxy said while picking himself back up.

"Straw hat Rules are rules, you won the last game so hurry up and pick your prize," Foxy demanded.

"My prize?" Luffy asked.

"You want a Shipwright right, well I have more than a few," Foxy claimed "Oi Gina, Donovan, Sonieh. Get over here,"

Two male and one female pirate's pushed their way to the front of the crowd and looked at both Foxy and the Straw Hats.

The first shipwright to come forward was an average sized man, with light coloured long shaggy hair on the back of his head, and sideburns. He had a small black goatee, stubble on his upper lip, and a round nose. He wore a short sleeved white t-shirt and some thick cargo pants, a rope around his forehead, a cap on his head and a black Foxy Pirate's mask.

"This is Sonih, he is the leader of all my shipwrights, he has had over 12 years of experience sailing on ships and them as well as building them," Foxy introduced.

"He looks tough," Usopp said "I bet he would be good in a fight,"

"Actually Sonih is doesn't fight, he prefers to stay in the back watching the fight with a drink and let everyone else do the fighting instead," Hamberg claimed.

"Really?" Zoro asked.

"Yep, he may be useless when it comes to fighting but his skills as a shipwright is where he really shines," Pourche claimed.

"If its combat you want then you should consider Donovan," Foxy said and gestured to the second male.

Donovan was an average sized man, with stubble on his chin, and dark sunglasses. He wore a dark coloured leather jacket over a tank top and leather hat; he was chewing on three nails in his mouth. However unlike other Foxy crew he was not wearing a mask, striped cap or ears.

"Donvan is not as good at ship repairs as Sonih but he's no pushover, and he will gladly jump in or start a fight," Foxy claimed.

"Why is he not wearing a mask of fox ears?" Connor said.

"Oh that, he refused and we could not get him to wear them. He wears sunglasses instead," Porche said.

"Why would he choose to wear sunglasses?" Robin asked.

"So I can sassily tell people to deal with it," Donavan answered.

"Okay…but why are you chewing on three metal nails?" Chopper asked.

"Straw reeds are for chumps," Donavan proclaimed masculiniy.

"I like him, Luffy pick him," Zoro smiled.

"NNNOOOO!" Nami, Usopp and Chopper yelled together.

"If you don't like him then how about Gina," Foxy suggested and gestured to the only female pirate who came forward.

Gina was a normal sized, attractive woman with short, wavy red hair reaching down to her neck. She wore a dark coloured shirt with straps over the shoulders, short shorts with a belt; long maroon gloves covered her hands and arms up to her elbow and two red bands with a heart on her forearms. She had a holster with a hammer in it strapped around her right thigh. She also wore the same mask as other Foxy Pirates.

Sanji's eyes instantly turned to hearts upon seeing her.

"Gina is as good with a hammer as she is sexy," Foxy claimed.

"Hi boys," Gina said flirtatiously and gave them a wink.

Sanji's heart shaped eyes instantly grew bigger.

"Luffy….get the pretty dark red haired beauty female…please," Sanji begged "Gina-SWAANNNNNN LETS SAIL TOGETHER!"

Nami's eye twitched and she hit the cook causing him to get several bumps on the head.

"LIKE HELL SHE'S COMING WITH US!" Nami yelled angrily.

"What's the matter Nami, can't handle the competition if Luffy dose pick her?" Zoro smirked.

Nami hit Zoro as well.

'Those two need to learn to keep their mouths shut,' Usopp, Chopper and Connor all thought.

"These are my three best Shipwrights, if you're going to take one of my shipwrights it should be one of these three," Foxy claimed.

Luffy looked over the three pirates for a moment and then smiled.

"Okay I've decided," Luffy said happily "I want your Flag,"

The Foxy pirates stared at him for a moment and then it them on what Luffy was going to take.

"OUR WHAT!" they all yelled.

"Your flag, I can take that as a prize right?" Luffy asked.

"Well….yes but…" Porche answered and trailed off.

"STRAW HAT IS IT NOT ONLY BAD ENOUGH THAT YOU BEAT US NOW YOU'RE GOING TO ROB US OF OUR PRIDE AS PIRETS TOO?!" Foxy yelled.

"They cheat at every opportunity…..do they even have any pride?" Usopp wondered.

"But how will we sail if you take our Sail?" Porche asked.

"I don't want your sail, just the symbol," Luffy claimed.

"But our symbol is on the sail, you have to take it all," Foxy pointed out.

"That's right and if you take it we can never use the Sail again as it would violet the oath we swore to Davy Jones," Porche claimed.

"Hm….well what if I draw you a new one," Luffy suggested "then you could still sail and there would be no problem right?"

"Would that work?" Foxy asked looking at Porche.

"I suppose…if he did that then technically we would not be using the same symbol as all we would be doing is changing our flag," Porche said.

"Alright let's do that then," Luffy said.

"Straw Hat…you're so nice," Foxy said, he was moved to tears by Luffy's kindness.

Foxy's crew took down there Sail and Flag, they brought out a spare empty Black Sail and flag for Luffy and he quickly got to work, once he was done the Sail with the new emblem and once it was up the whole of Foxy's crew jaws dropped.

The new emblem was and badly drawn fox head that looked more like a demented cat head with crossbones underneath and the Kitsune. Only Kitsune was misspelled and actually read "Kitty-nuns-hey,"

"There perfect," Luffy declared "this will be your mark from now on….what do you think?"

Luffy turned to see the whole of Foxy's crew slack jawed.

"Wow you're all speechless, you must really like it. Now you can sail the Grand Line with pride," Luffy said happily and gave Foxy a friendly slap on the back.

The other captain turned to look at Luffy unable to find the words to protest. Luffy then picked up the original Pirate flag; Zoro, Sanji, Usopp and Connor walked over to Foxy. The other pirate looked at them still unable to find the words to describe what Luffy had drawn, but the Straw Hat's figured it out.

"We should have mentioned that Luffy's artistic skills terrible," Zoro claimed.

"But then…who drew your pirate mark?" Foxy demanded snapping him out of his stupor.

"He did," Connor answered and pointed at Usopp.

"It's a good thing he did otherwise we would be stuck with one of Luffy's drawings on our Sail too," Nami claimed.

"So if you would be so kind to un-block our ship and be on your way we would appreciate it," Nami smiled sweetly, she was taking great pleasure out of Foxy's humiliation "oh and have a nice trip,"

Again Foxy's jaw dropped.

"What goes around comes around boss," Hamberg chuckled.

Despite how Foxy felt about his new Pirate Mark him and his crew quickly got on board there ship and set off, with the straw hat's waving good bye on the shore with satisfied smiles on there faces and watching them go.

"I'll be back you here, I'll get my revenge on you for this Straw Hat," Foxy yelled as his ship sailed away.

"They are going to be the laughing stock of the Pirate world with that sail," Sanji claimed as the Sexy Foxy left.

"Yeah…it almost makes me feel sorry for them," Zoro agreed.

Once Foxy and his crew were gone Luffy took the flag he had won back to Tonjit who had missed the final fight in favour of taking care of his injured horse. He

"Hey old man, I won," Luffy smiled and held out the flag "they won't bother you again,"

Tonjit smiled greatfully and took the flag, he then looked at Luffy's bandages.

"But...your hurt," Tonjit said.

"This is normal, don't worry about it," Luffy assured.

"Still thank you for what you did, I still can't believe they shot my horse for no reason," Tonjit claimed.

"Wait...that's why you accepted the Davy Back challenge?" Nami asked.

"Yeah they were jerks that needed to be taught a lesson," Luffy claimed.

"You must let me thank you, let me get you something to eat," Tonjit insisted.

"Just as long as it's not that old cheese again," Usopp said.

"I'm sure I'll find something," Tonjit claimed.

The old man was about to walk into his his house but he stopped as he suddenly noticed a that there was a very tall man walking towards the his hut.

The man was incredibly tall, slim and muscular man,

He wore a white buttoned-up vest with standing collar over a long-sleeved navy blue shirt, with matching white trousers and black dress shoes, a yellow tie divided geometrically by black lines and a sleep mask over his eyes.

"Huh...is he with you?" Tonjit asked.

Luffy looked at the approaching man and blinked a couple of times.

"Nope not one of my crew," Luffy said.

"Maybe Foxy left one of his men behind," Connor suggested.

Robin froze in fear, she lost all feeling in her legs and collapsed to the ground while still staring at the man in pure terror.

"N...N...No...not him..." robin whispered fearfully.

The rest of the crew looked at her in confusion and concern.

"Robin-chan...are you alright?" Sanji asked in concern

As the man the crew noticed that the mans head was tilted back slightly and that he was making a strange but famlier sound

"Wait...is he snoring?" Zoro asked.

As the man got closer it became apparent that he was indeed snoring; he was also asleep. The Straw Hats stepped aside and the man walked past them without waking up.

"Is he...sleep walking?" Usopp asked.

"Looks like it," Nami said.

As the man walked of unaware he had just passed a well known pirate crew a very long dog walked in front of him and caused the man to trip and fall flat on his face.

"He's funny," Luffy laughed.

"Huh...what?...Where?" the man said and looked around.

The man sat up, lifting his sleep mask and stared at the crew. He stood up and walked over to look at Tonjit.

"What Island is this?" he asked.

"Uh...it's called Long Long Land," Tonjit supplied.

"Not again," the man sighed.

"Again?" Usopp asked.

"I sleep walk, I take a nap somewhere and i wake up in a completely different location...it's annoying," the man complained.

"Hey Robin been a while since i saw you," the man greeted

The crew turned to Robin.

"Robin...you know this guy?" Usopp asked.

"He's...He's...His name is Kuzan. But he's better known as Marine Admiral Aokiji," Robin said fearfully.

The whole crew and Tonjit stared at her and the Aokiji in shock. Connor however looked at both the crew and the Marine confused, he had no clue what an Admiral was.

"This guy's..." Usopp started.

"A Marine Admiral," Zoro finished.

"He doesn't look like a Marine admiral," Luffy commented "Oi Robin, are you sure you're not mistaking him for someone else?"

"DON'T INSULT HIM!" Usopp and Nami yelled.

"Hey it's not nice to judge people by their appearances," Ajokii said.

"But you can't be an Admiral," Usopp claimed.

"Why not?" Ajokii asked.

"What would an Admiral be doing on this island in the first place and why would he waste time with us. We're nobody's...there are plenty of other well-known pirates with far bigger bounties on their heads," Usopp said "go bother them,"

"I told you I was sleep walking," Ajokii answered "Besides my motto is Justice with Laziness,"

"WE CAN SEE THAT!" Usopp and Sanji yelled.

He looked over the crew and his eyes fixed on Luffy

"Hmm...your…um….I forgot…who were you again?" Ajokii asked "Ah well it doesn't matter,"

"IT DOSE MATTER!" Sanji and Usopp yelled.

He then noticed Nami.

"Well well what do we have here?" he asked seriously as he walked up to Nami.

Nami froze as the Admiral stood in front of her and looked at her with a critical and calculating gaze. The Rest of the crew got into fighting stances encase Ajokii tried something.

"Whoa you're a pretty sexy lady," he said "hey are you free tonight?"

"HUH?!" The crew yelled.

"Uh...no I'm fine thanks," Nami said nervously.

"Oh well...do you by any chance have a sister?" Ajokii asked.

"Y...yes," Nami answered.

"Cool...is she available?" Ajokii asked.

"STOP FLIRTING WITH NAMI-SWAN YOU ASSHOLE!" Sanji yelled.

He then lay down on the ground using his marine coat as a pillow.

"I'm tired of standing," Ajokii said.

"Then why were you sleep walking?" Usopp asked.

"Why wouldn't you report us?" Chopper asked.

"Well that's a lie...I will have to report that I found Nico Robin with you lot but that's it. I just need to let the government know where she is so they can adjust your crews' bounties," Ajokii claimed.

"Let's see with the current 160,000 adding on Robins bounty that would make your new total bounty…." Ajokii started as he tried to do the maths in his head "Ah you know what it doesn't matter it comes to the same thing, someone else will work it out,"

"YOU'RE JUST TOO LAZY TO DO THE ACTUAL MATHS!" Usopp cried.

"Why would you need to know where Robin is though?" Luffy asked.

"We didn't know where she was after Alabasta, I figured she was with you guys," Ajokii said "but I couldn't be too sure,"

"How did you know that?" Nami asked.

"I didn't, but considering her who the other people on that Island she could have gone with…you were the obvious choice,"

"Who were the others?" Chopper asked.

"The Brotherhood, we got a report that the Mentors and they're apprentices were on the Island at the time," Ajokii claimed, he then looked at Robin.

"I don't blame you for choosing a group of Pirates over them, I don't know anyone who would go with the Brotherhood willingly let alone the Mentors," Ajokii said.

"So...are you here to take Robin from us?" Connor asked hesitantly.

"LIKE HELL HE IS!" Luffy screamed "I'LL KICK HIS ASS!"

"Calm down, like I said I'm not here to fight," Ajokii claimed raising his hands.

"Then what are you doing here?" Chopper asked.

"Like I said I sleep walk...man I am going to get in so much trouble later for it," Ajokii moaned "I hate the Fleet Commanders' lectures,"

Zoro looked over at Robin who was still in complete fear of being in the presence of this man, he then turned his attention back to the Marine.

"So how do you know Robin?" Zoro asked suspiciously.

"She escaped from me eight years ago when I tried to capture her," Ajokii claimed "I could have hunted her down but I had other things to do,"

"More like you were to lazy too," Usopp commented.

"Yeah but if I tell people that I'd lose my position, I don't get bothered if people think I'm busy," Ajokii said.

"So you're not here to fight or take my Nakama?" Luffy asked.

"Nope…too much effort and paper work," Ajokii shrugged.

"In that case get lost and go somewhere else," Luffy demanded.

"But I just got comfy," Ajokii whined.

"I don't care you can get comfy somewhere else," Luffy said.

The crew watched as Luffy and Ajokii argued about whether or not the marine Admiral could stay on the Island and after a few minutes the argument changed to which sleeping position was the most comfortable. It was an odd sight to see, especially since Luffy seemed to be winning the argument.

"Alright fine I'm going," Ajokii said as he was too lazy to argue with the rubber captain.

"But first…." Ajokii said and looked at Tonjit "Were are the rest of the islands inhabits?"

"Oh it's just me, my tribe is two plateaus away," Tonjit claimed "I can't get to them,"

"Oh….tell you what, pack up your stuff and I'll give you a hand with that," Ajokii claimed.

"Wait old man, you can't trust him he's a Marine and not just any Marine…A marine Admiral," Luffy warned.

Tonjit stared at Luffy in confusion.

"Yes….Is that a problem?" Tonjit asked.

Luffy then realised what he had just said.

"Oh that's right normally pirates are the bad guys," Luffy realised "in that case you can trust him,"

"Hold on, the ocean only reveals a path once a year and the Log won't point to the other plateaus because there submerged and still connected to this Island," Usopp said "it's impossible for Tonjit to catch up with his people,"

"No…it's not," Robin said, the rest of the crew looked at her "With his power, it's not impossible at all,"

Tonjit with the help of the Straw Hats packed up his hut, Ajokii took a quick power nap while the old man was getting ready to leave. Due to Sherry's injury the horse was loaded onto a cart with the luggage. Once Tonjit was ready he, the Straw Hats and Ajokii made their way to the western end of the plateau and the path that Tonjits tribe would have taken if it had not been submerged by the sea.

Usopp and the crew were still sceptical about how the Admiral was going to help the old man and didn't think he could do anything. They were quickly proven wrong as Ajokii walked over to the sea shore and stuck his hand in the water. A second later the ocean leading west was frozen over, the crew could not belive what they were looking at.

"There that should last about a week, you can get to the next Plateau," Ajokii claimed.

"Thank you, but my people are on the Plateau after the next one," Tonjit said.

"No problem, you start the journey and I'll come freeze the ocean again after I've had a nap," Ajokii claimed.

Tonjit was beyond thrilled, Ajokii also advised him to dress warm while crossing the Ice and after the old man had put on a winter coat and said goodbye to the Straw Hats he pulled his luggage and Sherry onto the Ice and began to walk across it.

Once the old man was out of sight Luffy, Chopper, Usopp and Connor began playing on the Ice. However the playtime was quickly stopped once the crew realised how cold the area had now become; though Chopper didn't seem to mind the cold temperature at all.

"Hey lets go back to the Merry and get our winter clothing, then we can play some more," Luffy suggested eagerly.

"Sounds good to me," Usopp said.

As they left the ice to get the cold weather gear, Luffy noticed Ajokii was staring at him.

"What?" Luffy asked.

"Nothing I just noticed that you're just like your Grandfather," Ajokii observed.

Luffy's face instantly panicked and looked around wildly.

"Luffy's Grandfather?" Zoro asked and an image of a grey haired version of Luffy came into the Straw Hats minds.

"Luffy what's wrong…why are you panicking?" Connor asked.

"Gramps...he's not here is he?" Luffy panicked.

"Nah just me...don't worry I won't arrest you or anything," Ajokii claimed.

"But now that you've got Nico Robin on your side and I've had a look at you all….maybe I should just kill you all right here right now," he finished in a serious tone.

The Straw Hats were taken aback by this.

"W….W…What?" Luffy gasped.

"The government is currently ignoring your group right now, but there is no denying you are a very dangerous pirate crew," Ajokii started.

"Since your first bounty had been issued until now, the growth of and strength of your crew has been staggering," Ajokii explained "after all no one challenges a Shibki as soon after one day on the Grand Line,"

"While you have only ever kept your actives to fighting pirates and other criminals so far…but that makes you even more dangerous," Ajokii said seriously "If you were to turn your attention to the government or the citizens….that would be disastrous,"

"H…H…H…Hold on, you said you went' here to arrest us or anything," Usopp tired, he was clearly panicking at the Admirals change of heart "What happened to that Lazy Justice motto?"

"Honestly if you lot didn't have Nico Robin on your crew I probably wouldn't care," Ajokii said "but the fact is she is with your crew and that makes you lot a bigger threat and one not even I can ignore,"

"SO YOU WERE AFTER ROBIN, I'LL KICK YOUR ASS!" Luffy yelled.

"Do you know why the government issues bounties?" Ajokii asked.

"Because you're a bunch of jerks," Luffy answered angrily.

"It's to show the level of threat a person represents," Ajokii explained "the higher the bounty the bigger the threat that person is to the safety of the world,"

"Nico Robins first Bounty was 79 million, this was issued when she was 8 years old, what do you think that says about her?" Ajokii asked.

"The government considered you a threat at 8yrs old?" Usopp asked in surprise and then turned to Robin "what did you do?"

Robin didn't respond she merely looked down in shame.

"But I don't understand…why is Robin such a threat?" Connor asked.

"If you knew you would be dead already," Ajokii said seriously.

Connor gulped fearfully, considering the tone of voice Ajokii was using he did not want to know what Robin had done to earn such a high bounty at such a young age.

"She did well to survive as a child and not get caught. She betrayed and killed her partners, survived in the criminal underworld for years…using everyone and anyone she ever met," Ajokii claimed "Is this group your next hiding place? Are these the new tools you've chosen to use and throw away once they outlive your propose and there usefulness,"

Robin's eyes widened at that but she still said nothing.

"Oi don't talk about Robin-Chwan like that," Sanji defended "what did she ever do to you?"

"Still, I'm surprised. The Alabasta incident wasn't that long ago and you have already gained the trust of this crew," Ajokii said to Robin.

"Nothing," Ajokii answered.

"If she did nothing to you then you have no right to speak to her that way," Sanji claimed.

"Sanji, don't get him mad," Usopp begged.

"Like I said before I failed to capture her once, that is probably my only connection to her," Ajokii claimed.

"In time you too will learn that taking Nico Robin in and allying with her is a fatal mistake," Ajokii stated "every organisation and crew this woman has ever associated with has been completely destroyed and she has always been the only survivor,"

"So I don't care about stuff like that," Luffy said "who cares what she did in the past?"

"Yeah if we cared about that stuff we wouldn't travel with the likes of a pirate hunter or a thief that robbed us blind," Usopp agreed.

Nami hit the sniper on the head.

"That last part was unnecessary," she said.

"The past is not important," Sanji claimed "what matters is what she's doing right now,"

"Yeah and Robin is our Nakama so that is all that really matters," Chopper said.

"Oh dear...you are really popular with this group aren't you?" Ajokii asked "But you're still the same,"

Robin had finally had enough.

"Just what are you trying to say?" She demanded "If you want to arrest me then come and try. TRENITA FLUER!"

Several arms suddenly sprouted all over the Admiral and held him in place.

"OI ROBIN WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Usopp panicked.

"CLUTCH!"

The arms pulled back and broke Ajokiis back and the admiral just shattered into various pieces of Ice. Robin smiled thinking she had got the admiral but that smile turned to shock and horror as Ajokii began to reform. The crew stared at him in shock and once he was completely reformed he stood up and glared at Robin.

"he...he...he...he just reformed..." Connor stuttered.

"There's no sign that he was actually hurt," Usopp claimed.

"Just like Crocodile," Luffy said.

"And here I thought you were an intelligent woman," Aojkii sighed "oh well,"

He bent down and pulled out a handful of grass and threw it to his side, the blades of grass floated slowly in the breeze and Aojkii let out a long breath that froze the grass and the wind forming a long frozen blade.

"ICE SABRE!" he said and looked at Robin.

Aojkii swung his frozen blade at Robin, but Zoro blocked the blow with his own sword and glared at the Admiral. Ajokii did not seemed surprised and Sanji ran up and leapt into the air, kicking the frozen sword out of the Admirals hands. Finally Luffy charged forward stretching his fist back and ran towards the Admiral.

Ajokii let out an annoyed groan and grabbed Zoro's elbow and Sanji's knee. Luffy punched Ajokii in the gut but the Admiral did not seem bothered by it at all, in fact the moment Luffys fist made contact it began to freeze over; Sanji's and Zoro's arm and leg also froze as well. All three screamed in pain as the extreme subzero temperatures froze there limbs; When Ajokii finally let them go they fell to the ground screaming in agony as they tried to get the Ice off their limbs.

The rest of the crew just watched in horror.

"He...He...He took all three of them down...in one hit" Nami gasped.

"This is bad, we have to treat them right away or Frostbite will set in," Chopper cried "Usopp do something,"

"I...I...I...I can't, my body's frozen too," Usopp responded.

"Liar, you're just too afraid to move," Chopper shot back.

"CAN YOU BLAME HE?!" Usopp screamed in fear "WHAT CHANCE DO I HAVE AGAINST THAT!"

"Hmm...Looks like you found yourself some good Nakama this time," Ajokii complemented "too bad it won't do you any good,"

Ajokii towered over Robin and just before he could do anything Connor rushed forward grabbed onto the Admirals leg. Ajokii looked down at him.

"Huh...kid what are you AGHHHHH!" Ajokii screamed as Connor plunged his sword into the back of his leg.

Ajokii fell onto one knee as he felt his strength start to fail. However the Admiral was still stronger than the boy who had attacked him and was able to pry the boy off him and pull the sword out. Once the blade was out Ajokii felt his energy come back and his wound heal over. Connor took a step back in fear as the Admiral stood up holding Connors sword in his hand; he lifted Connor up by the front of his shirt and held him in the air.

"Little brat," Ajokii said

Ajokii kneed the boy in the stomach with such force that Connor flew back and crashed on the ground a few feet back and he withered in pain. The Admiral then turned his attention back to Robin.

"GAHHHHHH CONNOR!" Usopp panicked and Chopper ran over to him.

"Robin run," Nami urged.

But it was too late, he wrapped his arms around her and Ice covered both their bodies, once he let her go Robin was completely frozen over and Connor felt his brand pulse once. Ajokii looked at the sword in his hand recognising the design and then back at Connor.

'This blade...is he...one of them?' Ajokii wondered and he stared at Connor for a moment.

"ROBINNNNN!" Luffy screamed, bring the Admiral out of his thoughts.

Connor weakly looked up to see the Ajokii had his attention focused on Luffy. Connor activated his sight and saw that Robin still had a blue aura around her, though it was quickly becoming fainter.

"Luffy...she's still alive," Connor struggled to say.

"What?" Chopper gasped as he was the only one who heard him.

"Don't worry, she's still alive for now," Ajokii confirmed "If you thaw her she will live but her body's extremely brittle right now,"

"For instance if i were to shatter her like this," Ajokii said and made a move to punch her.

However he did not hit anything as Luffy had grabbed Robin's frozen form at the last second and used his own rubber body to ensure she did not break on the ground.

Ajokii merely sighed and lifted his leg to step on her but he stepped on Luffy instead.

"Huh...where did she..." Aojkii asked.

He looked over at Nami and Chopper to see that Usopp had Robins body. The sniper had raced past the Admiral and grabbed Robin before he could shatter her.

"Usopp, Chopper. Get Robin back to the ship and thaw here out," Luffy ordered.

"Right," Chopper and Usopp said together.

Chopper turned into his human form and picked up Robins legs, he then looked down at Connor.

"Connor climb on my back and hold on," Chopper said.

Connor did as he was told and climbed on Choppers back, he wrapped his arms around Choppers neck and once he was on Chopper and Usopp ran off towards the ship.

Aojkii turned to follow them but Nami stood in his way and pointed her Climeit tact at him.

"Do you mind moving, I really don't like fighting sexy women," Ajokii

"I'm not letting you hurt my friend," Nami declared.

"Why are you lot trying to save her, she's only using you," Ajokii claimed.

"So the world is filled with people like that. It's only natural that pirates like us would seek someone like her out," Nami claimed.

"Hmm...you have a point there," Ajokii agreed.

He then slapped Nami's Clime tact out of her hand and walked right past her. Zoro and Sanji ran up to him and up to him but Luffy stopped them before they could do anything.

"Don't interfere," Luffy called out.

Zoro and Sanji stopped and looked at their captain in confusion.

"I want to fight him one on one, mono a mono...just the two of us," Luffy declared.

Aojkii blinked and then turned to face Luffy.

"I don't mind, but I have no boat to capture you on…so this will be a fight to the death," Aojkii warned.

"Fine by me," Luffy said with a confidant smirk.


	64. Foxy Pirates Pt 8

_**A.n I own Nothing**_

 _ **Also I have decided to start Naming my chapters, from now one they will be named after the story arc they are part of. Some of these will not be official names rather names I remember them by the villian or the pirate crew the straw hats fought eg: Long Long Island arc will be The Foxy Pirates.**_

 _ **I will be doing this with Straw Hats Creed too.**_

 _ **Please Review**_

* * *

As soon as Usopp and Chopper got back to the ship they carried Robin to the shower room and Chopper turned on the cold water. He knew how to treat various conditions from extreme cold like hypothermia and frost bite; but he had never had to un-thaw a whole person who was completely frozen sold before and he prayed the same theory and treatment would work.

It wasn't long until the bath room was flooded, Chopper stood on a little stool so he would not be affected by the water flooding the floor. Connor and Usopp also helped by splashing the cold water all over Robins body as they were trying to thaw her out as quickly as possible. Chopper told Connor to use his sight on her and keep it on as long as he could, as Chopper had no way to tell if Robin was still alive in her frozen state.

"Why don't we use warm water...won't that make the ice melt faster?" Connor asked.

"She's very brittle, if we use warm water she could shatter or a limb could break...we have to keep her at a stable temperature," Chopper explained.

"But is she even still alive?" Usopp panicked.

"Yes, but her aura keeps going smaller and dimmer before coming back...but it's always not as strong," Connor said "Dose that make sense?"

"You mean it's fluctuating?" Chopper asked.

"If that what's that means then yes," Connor said.

"Why is it doing that?" Usopp asked urgently.

"I don't know," Connor responded "I've never seen an aura do that before,"

"Well make it stop, make Robin's aura stable," Usopp demanded.

"I can't, I can only see the life aura not control it," Connor claimed "Besides I still don't fully understand my sight...I only know what I've seen and what Edward told me but even then it's not much,"

"Well your useless aren't you," Usopp snapped.

Connor stopped splashing the water on Robin and looked down in sadness.

"Useless..." Connor whispered.

"USOPP!" Chopper yelled angrily.

"What all he's telling us is Robin is going to die. He's not helping at all," Usopp shot back.

"That is not helping, Robin is probably suffocating in there and I can't judge her state of health while she's frozen," Chopper scolded "the only way to tell if she's still alive is by Connor's sight. We know she is dying, the fact that she has an aura at all even if it's fluctuating is confirmation that Robin is still alive...SO WHY ARE YOU BLAMING CONNOR WHEN RIGHT NOW HE IS MORE USEFUL THAN YOU!"

The room was silent for a few seconds and Chopper tuned his attention to Connor.

"Connor keep your sight on and tell me if her aura disappears or stops fluctuating," Chopper ordered.

Connor nodded and he went back to splashing the water on Robin. Usopp looked at the two and he started to splash Robin with more water. After a tense ten minutes the top of Robins head was visible and only a thin layer of Ice remind as some of the Ice had fully melted away.

Chopper was relived at this and as more Ice melted Connor saw that the fluctuations in Robins Aura became less frequent. He informed Chopper but Robin was still not compleaty thawed out so they kept at it.

"CHOPPER!" Zoro's panicked voice came from outside.

Chopper, Usopp and Connor looked towards the bathroom door and Usopp went to open it, as soon as he did the water in the floor drained out into the next room and Chopper jumped off his stool and ran out, making little splashes as he ran through the water. Chopper came out on the deck and ran over to the railing where he saw Zoro, Nami and Sanji.

"Huh...only three of you?" Chopper asked "Where's Luffy?"

"He stayed behind to fight the Admiral," Nami claimed.

"WHATTTT!" Chopper yelled.

"It was a one on one fight," Zoro explained "We'll go back but first how do we unfreeze?"

"Oh right...you need to melt the Ice in a cool temperature," Chopper started "But Robins still in the bathroom,"

Zoro and Sanji instantly jumped into the sea and there cool ocean combined with the salt quickly melted the ice on their bodies.

"That works too," Chopper said.

"Okay what next?" Sanji asked.

"Stay there until the ice is all gone. Once the Ice is all gone, you need to massage the affected area and keep it warm," Chopper said.

"I'll get some towels," Nami claimed and ran onto the ship.

Zoro and Sanji stayed in the ocean for a few minutes and once all the Ice was gone, they boarded the ship; Nami had some towels ready for them and Chopper showed them how to properly massage there affected areas.

While he was doing that Usopp came out to see what was taking Chopper so long.

"Hey where's Luffy?" Usopp asked when he noticed that everyone but the rubber captain was back.

"He stayed behind," Zoro answered.

"And you left without him?" Usopp yelled.

"It was the captain's orders," Sanji explained "he sent us back while he challenged Ajokii to a one on one fight,"

"AND YOU LISTENED TO HIM?!" Usopp screamed "HOW COULD YOU DO THAT!"

Sanji instantly sprang up and grabbed the sniper by his overalls and pinned him against the cabin wall.

"Listen to me, Luffy gave us an order. We did not want to follow it or leave him there...but he is the captain and the captains orders are absolute," Sanji yelled.

"THAT DOESN'T MATTER, LUFFY COULD DIE...HOW COULD YOU JUST GO ALONG WITH THAT...DON'T YOU CARE ABOUT HIM AT ALL!" Usopp shouted.

Zoro cast a weary glance at Usopp; before anyone could say anything else Connor came out.

"Chopper Robin is..." started but stopped upon seeing the situation that was happing.

Sanji looked at him and let go of Usopp.

"What's going on?" Connor asked.

"Nothing, what were you saying about Robin?" Chopper asked as he walked up to Connor.

"Oh right, Robins completely thawed and her aura has stopped fluctuating...but it's really small and barely there," Connor said.

"UH...Right we need dry towels and clothes...Connor go get all the winter clothes sheets and blankets we have," Chopper ordered.

Connor nodded and he was about to head to the cabin where Nami kept the winter gear but suddenly he felt his brand pulse and he stopped. Connor looked over towards the Island in fear, he knew what it meant since everyone but Luffy was on the Merry.

"Kid?" Zoro asked.

"M...M...My brand just pulsed...Luffy's been defeated," Connor said in fear.

"Let's go cook," Zoro said and he sprang up.

"Right," Sanji agreed and the two bolted off the ship.

"Wait you shouldn't be doing any extreme movements," Chopper called out after them.

But it was too late as Zoro and Sanji ignored him, they were either already out of ear shot or they just didn't care.

* * *

 _With Ajokii_

Ajokii sat in front of a frozen statue of Luffy, who looked quite angry. Ajokii was surprised that Luffy had lasted as long as he did against the Admiral since most pirates normally run away or get frozen in the first few minutes. Still despite the victory Ajokii was at a loss on what to do now.

He knew he should go after the rest of Luffy's crew and finish Robin off, but seeing as Zoro was the only other one with a bounty he suppose he could let the other pirates off with a warning.

"Well...this is bit of a pickle isn't it?" Ajokii asked Luffy.

Luffy however did not respond in anyway.

"You challenge me to a one on one fight, even with the outcome enviable you still did it," Ajokii started "I'm a firm believer in honour but if I go after your crew now...well it would be violating the rules and honour of the duel we just had,"

Again he didn't get a response from the frozen statue.

"So I have to wonder...did you challenge me to save your crew or did you actuality think you could beat me?" Ajokii asked.

Still Luffy did not react in anyway.

"Oh well...it's too much effort to think about complicated matters like that," Ajokii sighed "I suppose I'll let them go,"

Ajokii then stood up.

"But as the victor of a fight to the death I am entitled to take your life," Ajokii said darkly.

Ajokii stared at the frozen statue for a moment and then he glanced off into the distance.

"Hm...your crew are on their way," Ajokii stated.

He then bent down and pickle up he jacket.

"Oh well I guess they can have you back, we're even now okay," Ajokii said "I'm letting you go as repayment for the Crocodile incident but don't think it will happen a second time,"

Ajokii tuned and began to walk off.

"Not that spareing you will do any good, as long as you keep Nico Robin around your living on borrowed time," Ajokii claimed.

Suddenly he stopped.

"Oh I had a message from Smoker for you," Ajokii remembered.

He turned around contemplating waiting for Luffy's crew to show up so he could give it to them and they could pass it on; but he decided against it.

"Ah you what never mind...you wouldn't understand it anyway," Ajokii claimed and walked off.

A few minutes later Zoro and Sanji arrived and looked around at the frozen battlefield, their eyes instantly found Luffy and Ajokii was gone.

"There he is," Zoro said and they ran up to the captain "He better be still alive,"

Sanji smashed the ice holding Luffy in place with the leg that Ajokii didn't freeze and he and Zoro carefully picked Luffy up.

"Let's get him back to the ship," Sanji said urgently and the two ran back to the Merry as fast as they could.

When Zoro and Sanji got back to the ship Chopper freaked out that he had another frozen crew member to deal with. Unfortunately Robin was in a critical condition and required Choppers constant attention. He told Zoro and Sanji to take Luffy to the bathroom and like Robin run a cold shower and splash him with water to thaw him out. He also told them to get Connor to help them so he could keep an eye on Luffy's aura.

Zoro and Sanji were quick to obey the doctors' orders and Usopp also helped while muttering how Luffy was an idiot and never should have challenged Ajokii in the first place. Nami assisted Chopper in dressing Robin in almost all the warm clothing they had, though Chopper had to cut off Robin's current attire and it was unfortunately beyond repair.

Once Luffy was thawed out Zoro brought the captain to Chopper, he used the remaining warm clothes and blankets that were saved for him. He got Usopp to set up a make shift bed for the two frozen crew members in the cabin and the men's quartes(since it was the biggest room) and banished the crew to the deck while he worked.

Chopper spent the rest of the day treating Luffy and Robin and on deck there was a very tense atmosphere. Zoro and Sanji paced the deck while Nami tried to get them to rest as they're now thawed limbs, Usopp was very jittery and Connor just sat quietly out of everyone's way. in the late afternoon Chopper finally emerged from below deck and the rest of the crew looked at him in anticipation.

"Robin and Luffy..." Chopper started "There stable,"

The tense atmosphere instantly faded as smiles appeared on all of the Straw Hat's faces. The news was a welcome relief.

"So they're going to recover?" Usopp asked hopefully.

"Yes, they will need to stay warm and a few days of rest but they will be fine," Chopper assured.

"That's a relief," Nami said happily.

"Yeah it is, good job Dr Chopper," Zoro praised.

Chopper instantly started doing his embarrassed happy dance.

"I won't be happy just because you ass holes praise me," Chopper said.

"He sure looks happy," the rest of the crew muttered.

Sanji walked over to the doctor.

"Chopper is there anything I can do to help with Robin-swans recovery?" Sanji asked.

"We'll need a lot of hot drinks and soup when they wake up," Chopper instructed "it should be very nutritious,"

"Right, I'll get on it," Sanji said.

He then turned to Connor who was still sitting out of the way.

"Come on you're going to help me," Sanji said.

Connor looked up at the cook, he nodded and stood up.

"Uhh...cook," Zoro started.

"It's fine, I'll need chunky vegetables anyway," Sanji claimed as he and Connor walked into the kitchen.

'I suppose it will be good to keep the kids mind off things for now,' Zoro thought.

Once they were gone Usopp slumped to on deck as the events of the day finally hit him and he could not take anymore.

"Uh...today was the worst," He muttered.

Zoro looked over at the sniper in concern.

"You alright?" he asked.

"Yeah...just glad everything's okay now," Usopp claimed.

"It was a rough day," Zoro agreed.

"Yeah...hey are we going to meet more people like Ajokii?" Usopp asked.

"Probably, I bet there are pirates out there as strong as him," Zoro claimed "not to mention we'll meet up with Mihawke again,"

Usopp didn't respond he just stared up at the sky and Zoro narrowed his eyes for moment.

"Your just tired," Zoro assured "you should get some rest,"

Despite the good news Robin and Luffy did not wake up at all, Sanji with some minor assistance from Connor had made a big pot of chunky vegetable soup. When Luffy and Robin did not wake up Chopper assured the rest of the crew that they just needed a lot of sleep and the soup and hot drinks Sanji had prepared would have to wait until they did wake up.

Thankfully all Sanji had done was make a vegetable broth without any dairy or cream in it so it could be kept in the fridge for some time; though he did give out small bowls of soup for dinner.

That night the crew decided to all sleep in the same room, when Connor woke up that night the first thing he did was use his sight on Luffy and Robin while they slept; he was relieved that not only was there aura stable but it was also stronger than what it had been when they were frozen. Connor sat there watching Luffy and Robin for a while and thought over the day's events, he then glanced at Usopp.

Making a decision he turned off his sight and stood up, he snuck out of the Men's quarters like he did every night. Only instead of staying on deck to look over the ocean like he normally would, Connor headed for the cabin. Once inside he turned on the light and started looking around for the early learning books Robin had bought.

He found them easily enough and picked up the alphabet picture book and one of the simple story books. Connor sat in the middle of the room and opened the story book to the first page; he looked at the first letter and then found it in the alphabet book. He said the letter out loud and made the letter sound.

He repeated this for every letter in the word like Robin had taught him and put it together in an attempt to sound out the word and say it correctly.

The next day Nami decided that with both Luffy and Robin still out of commission they would not sail for a few days until they both recovered. During the day Chopper would take care of Robin and Luffy, with Nami aiding the doctor. Sanji and Usopp went out and stocked up on whatever they could get off the Long Trees.

Meanwhile Zoro took Connor with him to start his precision training, the long thin trees provided lots of thin branches and materials for him to use. The Swordsman had picked up Connors sword when he had gone back for Luffy as Ajokii had tossed it aside at some point after the crew had retreated to the ship.

"Okay here's good," Zoro said.

Connor looked around, they were in clearing not far from the ship but far enough that they would not be bothered and there were a lot of very thin tall trees around.

"What are we doing out here?" Connor asked.

"Training," Zoro answered.

"Training….but don't we normally do that on the ship?" Connor asked.

"Yeah but this is special training," Zoro said "We're going to be working on your precision,"

"Precision?" Connor asked.

"Yep, its strength and blade control," Zoro said.

"Oh…but

"No you can't, you've been helping Pervo Cook make dinner right?" Zoro asked.

"Yeah, he has me peel and cut vegetables," Connor agreed.

"Have you noticed the vegetables you peel always come out chunky and there's not much left to use?"

Connor nodded, he was still not good a peeling or cutting the vegetables.

"That proves you don't have precision, if you did that wouldn't happen. So we're going to work on that," Zoro pointed out.

"But…I don't see what that has to do with sword play," Connor said.

"If you can master precision with a blade you can use it in cooking, like I said it's all strength and blade control. Plus precision is useful in combat as well, especially if your aiming for a certain area on your foes body," Zoro explained "the more precise your blows he more damage you can do,"

Connor nodded in understanding, he thought he had grasped all the concepts of sword play but clearly there was still a lot more to learn, he wondered if Zoro would going introduce him other aspects of sword play as well.

Zoro walked over to a nearby tree and cut it down in one swing of his sword. He then cut the tree up into smaller thin round carrot sized pieces.

"See that, that was using precision," Zoro said.

He gestured for Connor to come over and the boy did so, Zoro bent down and picked up one of the pieces.

"Here's what you're going to do, you're going to take one of these pieces and peel the thin layer of bark off the wood with your sword," Zoro said.

Zoro used his own sword to demonstrate and in a few seconds the bark was all gone and what was left behind was a smooth piece of wood.

"Just like that, if you can do this then you can do what I just did to that tree," Zoro said.

He picked up a second piece and tossed it in the air, as it fell Zoro sliced at it and when it landed the bark fell off leaving behind a second piece of perfect wood and the bark landed on the ground in a perfect spiral.

"You can do that too," Zoro said "But I don't expect you to be able to do that on your first try,"

Connor stared at the two pieces in amazement.

"So want to give it a try?" Zoro asked.

"Yeah," Connor agreed enthusiastically.

"Right first up give me your sword, you won't be using it," Zoro said and held out his hand.

Connor hesitated and reluctantly handed his blade over to Zoro.

"If I'm not using my sword how can I do the training?" Connor asked.

"You'll use this," Zoro said and he pulled out a small dagger "you'll start with this as it will be easier to use and once your confidant you can then do the training with your actual sword,"

Connor nodded and took the dagger; there was nothing special about it. It was just a plain old everyday dagger.

Zoro would train with Connor for most of the day and he made a note to work precision into their normal training routine when they were out at sea as well. Connor would also continue to help Sanji in the kitchen preparing meals for the crew.

At night the crew sleeted in the same room as Luffy and Robin. When Connor would wake up, he would go back to the cabin and practice reading. It was defiantly harder without Robin to help him pronounce the words but he was determined to get through the book on his own.

On the second day after the Davy Back Fight and Ajokii both Luffy and Robin finally woke up, Sanji had a lot of food prepared and it was a good thing too as being frozen had done nothing to his enormous appetite or his hyperactivity and Chopper found it hard to keep the captain in bed.

Robin however was more than content to stay in bed and rest; she only ate the bear minimum, though she did enjoy all the hot drinks Sanji would bring her.

After four days of rest Luffy had fully recovered and Robin was well on her way but would need another day or two. Nami decided with the captain back to full strength it was time to leave and on the morning of the fifth day the Merry set sail.


	65. Lost Memories Pt1

_**A.n I own Nothing**_

 _ **Please Review**_

* * *

The Merry had been at sea for two days now, once Luffy had recovered and it was clear that Robin no longer needed constant attention from Chopper Robin moved into the Cabin so she could still get some rest without being distracted by the other straw Hats antics. The day was clear and so far the crew had not run into any trouble, considering they were on the Grand Line that may have been odd but after everything that happened on the last Island it was a welcome break. It gave them time to recover from their first experience with an Admiral.

Luffy was currently doing his frozen impression to the delight of both Usopp and Chopper; Connor didn't find it funny at all. He had something he really wanted to show Robin; so while Luffy was being his normal self, Zoro was napping and Sanji was making Nami a drink and snack. Connor got what he wanted to show Robin and he headed into the cabin to visit the Arcioligest.

Connor went to the girl's cabin and poked his head through the door. Robin was sitting up in bed staring out the porthole at the ocean. She had been doing that a lot ever since she woke up as dealing with Ajokii had clearly shaken her.

"Hi Robin...can I come in?" Connor asked.

Robin looked over to him and gave the boy a smile. Connor took it as permission and he walked over to Robin's bed and stood in front next to her with his hands hiding something behind his back.

"Are you feeling better?" Connor asked.

"Yes but I'm still very tried," Robin said.

"Oh...well Chopper said that was normal but he also said you were nearly fully recovered," Connor remembered.

"He did didn't he," Robin agreed "So what's going on up on deck?"

"Luffy's covering himself with flour and intimidating himself being frozen," Connor claimed "Usopp and Chopper think it's funny,"

"You don't?" Robin asked.

"No, I don't...I'm amazed that he can just laugh something like that off," Connor said.

"Have the others said anything?" Robin asked.

"About what?" Connor respond.

"About what Akojii said...and what happened," Robin clarified.

"Oh...umm...Oh Sanji said something about making his kicks burn with the firey power of love because he couldn't stand up to Ajokii ice cold hart," Connor claimed "he then went on about how Ajokii was the worst person in the world for freezing you and flirting with Nami,"

"Oh...that's nice," Robin claimed, she was expecting something different.

"So not really anything out of the ordinary," Connor said.

Robin smiled and turned back to the window and stared out of it.

"I can go if you want to rest," Connor offered.

"No its fine...Connor can I ask you something?" Robin asked.

"Sure,"

"What do you think of me?" Robin asked.

"I don't understand," Connor said confused.

"Ajokii said I was just using you and the others and that my mere presence will get everyone killed," Robin said.

"Oh that...I think he doesn't know what he's talking about," Connor said.

"You don't think I'm with the crew just to get something out of it, or have some alteir motive?" Robin asked.

"Well even if you were using us I'd know, I'm used to being used and would have no say in it anyway," Connor claimed "But if that were the case then you would not appear blue to me,"

Robin looked at Connor in surprise.

"What?" she asked.

"Your aura is blue," Connor confirmed.

"When did you use your sight on me?" Robin asked.

"While we were defrosting you, because you were frozen chopper couldn't tell whether you were still alive or not so I used my sight to check and keep him informed," Connor explained "and your aura was blue and that means your good,"

"Your sight might be wrong," Robin said.

"It's never been wrong before," Connor claimed "So if it tells me your trustworthy than I'm going to believe it over what some marine or anyone else says,"

"Connor..." Robin said.

"You're not a bad person Robin and nothing is ever going to change anyone's opinion of you…at least not on this ship," Connor assured " besides if you were you wouldn't be teaching me,"

Robin pulled the boy into a hug.

"Thank you," Robin whispered.

She was touched by his words and faith in her. She did not want the others ever knowing how much trouble she was and now that they did she feared on how the rest of the crew would view her and it was re-assuring to know that her fears were unfounded. Robin held Connor for good five minutes before she finally broke the hug.

"Sorry about that, I know you don't like to be touched," Robin apologised.

"Its fine," Connor assured "I actually wanted to show you something if you're feeling up to it,"

"Oh what?" Robin asked.

Connor revealed what he was hiding behind his back and it was the story book he had been practicing reading on his own the last few nights.

"Oh one of the picture books, do you want a reading lesson?" Robin asked.

"No, you're not better yet and Chopper says you still need more rest. So I thought I could read it to you," Connor claimed.

"What?" Robin gaped in surprise.

"Yeah, Usopp's made up stories made his friend feel better when she was in bed all day. So I figured the same would work for you, but I'm not good at making things up so…you'll have to settle for the story book,"

"Connor...I don't think..." Robin started but trailed off.

She knew exactly what level Connor's reading level was and he was nowhere near close to reading on his own. But here he was trying to make her feel better, probably knowing that he would not be able to get through the first page.

"What?" Connor asked.

"I don't think you should do it standing," Robin said "come and sit next to me,"

Robin moved over and Connor climbed onto the bed and sat next to Robin. Once Connor he opened the book and Robin put her arm over the boys' shoulders and helped him support the book.

"Take your time and if you need help pouncing anything just ask," Robin said.

Connor nodded and started to read the book, he took it slowly and it took almost 45 minutes for Connor to go through the book. He had to sound out a few words and Robin only corrected his pronunciation twice; but the boy read the entire story book on his own.

Once he was done Robin thanked him for the story and told him she felt much better; Connor smiled and left her to rest.

"He did it….he actually did it," Robin said impressed "I wonder if I should take his reading lessons to the next level," Robin said once Connor was gone.

* * *

The next day Robin got out of bed and re-joined the crew on the deck, the rest of the straw hats were happy to see her up and about. Chopper warned her not push or over exert herself. She did give Connor his daily lesson but it was a very short lesson as she was still not quite feeling up to it and in the late afternoon Luffy spotted and island.

"Hey look, an Island," Luffy cried happily.

Nami checked the log on her wrist.

"That's the next stop," She claimed.

"Really...man I can't wait to explore," Luffy said happily.

"Hold on Luffy," Usopp said "by the time we get there it might be be too late for that,"

"Usopp's right Luffy, by the time we get there it will be dark," Nami agreed "you'll have to wait till tomorrow to explore,"

"Aww...that's no fun," Luffy whined.

"Well you can explore as soon as we land...but you'll miss dinner," Sanji pointed out "But I can't guarantee there will be some left over when you get back,"

"WHAT NOO!...alright guys we'll explore this new island tomorrow," Luffy declared.

After dinner everyone went to bed except Robin, as she had been resting a lot ever since she was frozen and she wanted to catch up on some reading. Sanji left a small lantern for her so she would be able to see what she was reading.

Later that night Connor was having a very rare night, his nightmares hadn't woken him up yet and he was for once sleeping soundly through the night. Suddenly the boy started to twitch and toss in his hammock and then he felt a jolt of pain run through his body.

He instantly shot up and gripped his left arm where his brand was and winced in pain. It wasn't that bad but it still hurt.

'What the hell...why is my brand hurting?' Connor thought.

He looked around at the sleeping crew who were all snoring and Luffy was calling for Sanji to get him some meat in his sleep and Sanji in his sleep was telling him to wait till morning.

'I haven't disobeyed...have I?' Connor wondered

Connor waited for the pain to completely fade before he lay back down and tried to go back to sleep. He lay there for a bit and just as he was drifting off he felt the same jolt of pain in his arm again that woke him back up.

'What the hell is going on…dose my brand not want me sleeping,' Connor mentally groaned as he sat up again.

He let out a sigh and looked towards the exit of the men's quarters; since he was awake he decided to get up and go on deck. Once he was on deck Connor noticed that a small light was coming from the kitchen.

"Is Robin still up?" Connor asked himself.

Connor walked to the kitchen and pushed the door open, he peaked inside to see Robin was sitting at the table reading a book. She looked up as the boy came in and closed the door behind him.

"Connor, what are you doing up?" Robin asked "are your nightmares bothering you?"

Connor walked over to the table and sat down opposite Robin.

"No...my brand woke me up," Connor answered.

"Oh what for?" Robin asked.

"I don't know...it's never done this before," Connor said concerned "I tried to go back to sleep but it won't let me,"

"Has your ever denied you sleep before?" Robin asked.

Connor shook his head.

"Only when I'm being punished, it won't let me pass out until after the punishment," Connor answered.

"I see...did one of the boys give you an order in their sleep?" Robin asked "perhaps this is a form of punishment,"

"No...that feels different and it's far more painful," Connor claimed "plus there is never any variation when the brand punishes me...it's always the same,"

"You said this felt different, different how?" Robin asked.

Connor hesitated for moment.

"My punishments are a long drawn out never ending pain, what woke me was more of a quick jolt," Connor answered "enough to force me awake but not enough to hurt me,"

"And you're sure this has never happened before?" Robin asked.

"Defiantly," Connor nodded.

"I see...maybe it is just your brand reacting to something the boys said in their sleep then," Robin insisted "If that is the case then we just need to wait till morning and have Luffy reverse it,"

"I hope so...I just don't understand why it's keeping me awake and won't let me sleep," Connor said worriedly.

"We'll worry about that tomorrow. Now since your up would you like a reading lesson?" Robin asked.

"I...don't want to bother you," Connor said.

"It's not a bother at all, besides no one is up and we have the whole night to fill," Robin claimed.

"But aren't the books I normally read in the cabin?" Connor asked "where Nami is sleeping,"

"Yes but I left one or two in here after today's lesson,"

"Y...you did..." Connor asked fearfully "what if Sanji found them?"

"Connor calm down, no one knows there here,"

"You sure?" Connor asked.

Robin nodded, she created and arm at the top of a cabinet and it reached over above it and pulled three children's learning books out. Connor looked at the hiding place.

"See, I put them in a place where no one could see or reach them," Robin said.

Connor breathed a sigh of relief, he knew no one would ever see or bother to look up there.

Robin stood up and walked over to retrieve the books and dismissed the extra arm once she had them.

"You know Connor you should tell Luffy and the others that you're learning to read," Robin said.

"I...I want to but I can't," Connor said.

"They won't hurt you," Robin assured.

"I know but...what if Luffy forbids me from learning anymore," Connor said wordily.

"He won't, he hasn't stopped you from learning from Zoro or Sanji has he?" Robin asked.

"Well...no but...Zoro's training is a nessesacray and cooking is something I should know how to do," Connor claimed.

"Still, it would be easier and a lot less stressful on you if at least Luffy knew," Robin claimed.

The fact was the rest of the straw hats did know that Connor was learning to read and write, however since Connor was very uncofmterble about it they were pretending not to know and waiting for him to tell them himself. Robin had brought the subject of telling the crew every now and then but as a way of encouraging Connor the first time he had been horrified at the thought of anyone finding out but slowly he was warming up to the idea and Robin knew he just needed a little more time. She hoped once Connor had improved a bit more he would tell the others and once he did Robin knew Connor would become more confident and learning would become easier for him.

"I know and I want to tell him I do, but...I just want to get a little better first...that way I can manage if he does forbid me from continuing," Connor said.

"That and you're writing needs a lot of work, it's not even readable yet," Robin added.

"I'm sorry...I'm trying really," Connor said looking down sadly.

"I know, we'll keep at it," Robin assured "now then there is a writing book here, why don't we do a bit of reading first and then some writing practice,"

"Okay," Connor agreed.

Robin and Connor stayed up the rest of the night, Robin encouraged Connor to try and get back to sleep but every time he tried his brand would send a jolt of pain through his arm and keep him awake.

Just before dawn Robin decided to put the learning books away and Connor went outside to watch the sunrise. Robin joined him and after the sun was up Robin went into the cabin to put the books she had been reading before Connor came in away. Connor continued to view the morning horizon while he waited for Zoro to wake up so they could start the early morning training.

He wasn't waiting long, after a few minutes he herd the latch to the men's quarters open and slam shut. Connor looked over his shoulder expecting Zoro but saw Chopper instead; this was odd as the doctor was usually the last one up. He watched the Reindeer run out of the men's quarters and look around panicky; when Chopper finally noticed Connor he looked directly at the boy.

"GAHHH….HUMAN!" Chopper panicked and then ran to hide behind a nearby barrel. Only he was hiding the wrong way.

Connor was a bit confused and was going to ask if Chopper was alright and why the doctor was scared of him but before he could he heard a loud crash and Usopp's scream coming from below deck. Connor put Choppers odd behaviour down to the doctor being half asleep or Luffy scaring him and went down to the men's quarters. Sanji, Luffy and Usopp were all up but the cook was on edge and appeared to give off a threatening presence, Luffy was looking around widely like he had never seen the inside of the ship before completely ignoring Sanjis dangerous aura ; Usopp was huddled into a corner trying to get away from the other two men.

"Hey I heard a crash, is everything okay?" Connor asked as he came down.

Sanji, Usopp and Luffy all looked at him blankly with no recognition in their eyes.

"Also I think something or someone spooked Chopper, he's acting weird," Connor claimed as he came over to them.

The boy then noticed how the other crew members were looking at him.

"What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?" Connor asked.

"Um….who are you?" Luffy asked.


End file.
